Smithfield Foods, producer of the iconic Smithfield Ham and the largest pork producer in the world, will go public in an initial public stock offering listing its shares on the Nasdaq Global Select Market.
Smithfield is currently owned by Hong Kong-based WH Group Ltd., which acquired it in 2013 for $4.7 billion —it was the largest Chinese takeover of a U.S. company at the time. WH Group will sell a 20% stake in the company as part of the IPO, which has previously been approved by shareholders.
Smithfield did not disclose the size of the IPO, anticipated share price or timing for when it should sell shares to the public. The IPO is being run by Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Securities and Goldman Sachs.
Smithfield traces its roots to 1900, though the Smithfield Packaging Company was officially founded on Commerce Street in Smithfield, Virginia, in 1936. Its sprawling corporate headquarters campus is still on Commerce Street.
Starting in the 1980s, the company began acquiring other pork producers and processed meat brands, including Carroll’s Foods, the second-largest hog production company in the U.S. in 1999, and Murphy Farms in 2000, which made it the world’s largest hog producer.
Smithfield owns hundreds of pig farms in the U.S. and contracts with hundreds of other independent operators, though in 2023, it ended contracts with two dozen U.S. pig farms and reduced its own production, citing oversupply.
In addition to Smithfield, its other brands include Eckrich, Farmland Foods, John Morrell, Murphy Farms and Nathan’s Famous, with which it has a marketing agreement.
Virginia law dictates what constitutes a genuine Smithfield Virginia Ham. It must be produced from hogs fed a diet of peanuts, and must be salt cured for at least six months, smoked and processed in Smithfield, Virginia.
