Tyson
Foods Inc. and Hillshire Brands Company are now officially merged, the
companies announced Thursday.
The
announcement came hard on the heels of a U.S. Justice Department order that
Tyson divest a hog-buying business so there would continue to be competition in
the market for sows, boars and culls. That satisfied government concerns about
the merger.
The
combination of Tyson Foods and Hillshire Brands creates a single company with
more than $40 billion in annual sales.
The integration
of the two companies is expected to generate synergy savings of $225 million in
fiscal 2015 and more than $500 million by fiscal 2017.
