WH Group, which paid $7.1 billion for Smithfield Foods Inc.,
has drastically reduced its attempt to raise money on the stock markets.
It is now getting ready to offer about $2.36 billion worth
of shares on stock exchanges in China and the United States, far lower than its
initial plans to raise $5.3 billion.
Its target is about 11.5 times it annual earnings, says
Bloomberg-owned Business Week magazine.
Smithfield, based in Virginia, claims to be the world’s
largest hog-producing and pork-packing company. That claim may not be true,
given the number of hogs raised in China and the emergence there of huge
companies, such as WH Group.
At one time Smithfield owned Schneider Corp., which it
bought from the Schneider family in Kitchener.
It later sold the business to
Maple Leaf Foods Inc. which also bid to buy from the Schneiders, but was
rejected because of long-standing animosity between the Schneiders and Canada
Packers, which became part of Maple Leaf Foods.
