MOY Park could return to Brazilian ownership after South American meat giant JBS announced plans to buy the rest of US chicken processor Pilgrim’s Pride.
The Colorado-based corporation bought Moy Park for around £1 billion in September 2017 after JBS put the poultry company up for sale.
JBS, which is the world’s largest meatpacker, already has an 80 per cent stake in Pilgrim’s Pride, through various subsidiaries.
In a securities filing on Thursday, the Brazilian giant disclosed that its board had approved sending an offer letter to Pilgrim’s Pride seeking the remaining shares in circulation for €26.50 (£19.15) per share.
The offer, which values the US poultry giant at around $6.5bn (£4.7bn), would take the Colorado-based corporation private.
The proposed acquisition of the remaining shares will require approval from a special committee of Pilgrim's Pride board members along with a majority of voting shares in the company.
Moy Park’s last publicly filed accounts put the poultry group’s turnover at £1.58bn for 2019, producing a pre-tax profit of around £70m.
The company currently employs around 5,500 people with sites in Dungannon, Craigavon and Ballymena.
