Smithfield Foods Going Public, Again
Smithfield Foods, Inc.is making a big change as the new year gets underway. The iconic CPG announced an initial public offering (IPO) under the symbol “SFD.”
This marks a return to public trading circles for Smithfield, which went private more than a decade ago after being acquired by the WH Group, based in China. In mid-2024, WH Group announced that it was spinning off operations in the United States and Mexico and would focus on its business in China and Europe.
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In the filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Smithfield reported that the existing shareholder is expected to list shares of the company’s common stock in the proposed offering. The IPO is subject to market conditions and is being managed by Morgan Stanley, BofA Securities and Goldman Sachs & Co., LLC.
Based in Smithfield, Va. and founded in 1936, the venerable producer of value-added packaged meats and fresh pork posts more than $14 billion in annual sales and maintains a roster of about 34,000 employees in the United States. In December, the company reported that it is working with a new independent pork producer to source hogs, VisionAg, LLC, and also entered into an agreement re-establishing Murphy Family Ventures as an independent pork partner.
