Smithfield Foods Merger Agreement with Chinese Meat Processing Company

Last week China's largest meat processing enterprise and China's largest publicly traded meat products company Shuanghui International has entered into a definitive merger agreement with U.S. Smithfield Foods.
Dr. Steve Meyer is president of Paragon Economics examines the Smithfield Foods sale to a Chinese company.

Meyer: “The company has said that it is going to leave the management alone . They aren’t closing any facilities. It looks like Larry Pope and his team will still be running Smithfield Foods. Regardless of who owns it they are going to be subjected to any whatever political and market-driven -- if they are in fact market driven -- forces in the U.S. market so I really don’t think that is going to change things from that count at all. I don’t see why -- I mean this company is still going to be located in the U.S. its brick and mortar are here - all the way from the farm to the processing plant. So regardless of who owns they’re going to be subject to our laws and whatever pressure this market puts on it for that. So I don’t think that is going to change any.”
According to Smithfield’s news release, Shuanghui will continue its long-term strategy and vision to become a global leader with strict adherence to the highest standards of quality control and safety compliance. Its agreement to acquire Smithfield is fully aligned with this focus. Shuanghui will maintain the excellence in Smithfield's brands and strategic priorities.