Smithfield Foods on Tuesday disclosed terms for an initial public offering that could give the largest U.S. pork producer a market value of nearly $11 billion.
Smithfield, owned by China’s WH Group, said it plans to sell 34.8 million shares valued between $23 and $27 per share. That could raise up to $939.6 million for the pork producer, which owns brands including Farmland bacon and Nathan’s Famous hot dogs.
The company said it will have 397.5 million shares outstanding after the IPO, bringing its market capitalization to $10.7 billion at the high end of the expected share price range.
Smithfield filed its proposal to go public earlier this month without much detail on the timing, shares or price range for the offering. The company is looking to list its shares on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol “SFD.”
About half of the stock total — 17.4 million shares — will be sold by Smithfield and the other half by WH Group, according to the latest investor filing. WH Group will own about 91% of Smithfield’s shares after the IPO.
WH Group, which acquired Smithfield in 2013, announced plans to spin off U.S. and Mexico operations in November after struggling with declining pork margins. More recently, Smithfield has sold off some of its farm assets to long-time hog suppliers in an effort to focus more on processing and prepared foods.