JBS seeks full control of Pilgrim’s Pride as US acquisitions drive expansion
JBS has made a non-binding proposal to acquire the roughly 18% of Pilgrim’s Pride it does not already own. The deal would extend an acquisition strategy that has built a diversified US platform spanning beef, pork, poultry and prepared foods.
Proposal targets remaining Pilgrim’s Pride shares
JBS has submitted a non-binding proposal to acquire the shares of Pilgrim’s Pride that it does not already control, according to Veja. The Brazilian meat group owns approximately 82% of the US company. If completed, the transaction would give JBS full ownership of one of its principal poultry platforms and result in Pilgrim’s Pride shares being delisted from Nasdaq.
Under the proposal, Pilgrim’s Pride shareholders unaffiliated with JBS would receive 2.086 JBS Class A common shares for each Pilgrim’s Pride share. Based on closing prices on August 18—$13.66 for JBS and $28.49 for Pilgrim’s Pride—the exchange ratio implied an offer of approximately $28.49 per Pilgrim’s Pride share.
The proposal is not yet a completed transaction. It must be reviewed by a special committee composed of independent Pilgrim’s Pride board members and approved by shareholders not affiliated with JBS. Those requirements leave the timing and final terms dependent on negotiations and minority investor support.
Acquisitions built a multi-protein platform
JBS began its major US expansion in 2007 with the purchase of Swift & Company for about $1.4 billion. The acquisition gave the Brazilian company an established position in the world’s largest beef-consuming market and helped turn it into one of the largest beef processors globally. In 2008, JBS added Smithfield Beef’s operations, increasing its US cattle-processing capacity.
The group entered US poultry in 2009, paying about $800 million for a majority interest in Pilgrim’s Pride after the company entered bankruptcy protection. Pilgrim’s subsequently became a platform for expansion in the United States, Mexico and Europe. Its own acquisitions included British pork company Tulip for approximately £290 million in 2019 and Kerry Consumer Foods Meats and Meals in the United Kingdom for about €700 million the following year.
JBS also broadened its US position beyond beef and chicken. In 2015, it acquired Cargill Pork for approximately $1.45 billion, significantly expanding its position in American pork. The resulting portfolio combines beef, pork, poultry and prepared foods, reducing dependence on one protein category and allowing the group to operate across different production and demand cycles.
Scale and control reshape competitive position
Full ownership of Pilgrim’s Pride would deepen the integration of JBS’s poultry business and give the parent company direct control over all of the subsidiary’s equity. It would also simplify the ownership structure of an operation that has become increasingly focused on prepared foods and higher-value products, alongside its core poultry activities.
The proposed deal follows the model JBS has used since the Swift acquisition: buying businesses with established plants, brands and market access rather than building every position from the ground up. That approach has allowed it to add processing capacity and geographic reach across several protein markets while remaining physically close to US consumers.
For competitors and processors, the proposal underlines the importance of scale, product diversification and control over downstream food brands in the meat industry. For minority shareholders, the immediate question is whether the share exchange adequately reflects Pilgrim’s Pride’s value and growth prospects. For JBS, approval would complete its ownership of a business that has anchored its poultry expansion for more than a decade and reinforce the United States as a central base of its international operations.
