On January 3, Smithfield Foods announced the completion of its acquisition of Clougherty Packing, parent company of Farmer John and Saag's Specialty Meats pork brands, and PFFJ pig farm operations from Hormel Foods Corporation. The closing followed the approval of the sale by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.
"With this one acquisition, we've created a more efficient supply chain coast-to-coast and expanded our operations, product portfolio as well as our customer and consumer base,” said Kenneth M. Sullivan, president and CEO of Smithfield Foods, in a press release.
In the deal, Smithfield also acquired three pig farms located in Arizona, California and Wyoming into its hog production division.
Kenneth J. Baptist, vice president of operations for Smithfield's packaged meats division, will now lead Farmer John operations, which includes both the Farmer John and Saag's Specialty Meats brands. Baptist has more than a decade of experience at Smithfield and more than 30 years of experience in the food industry.
About the acquired companies
Founded in 1931, Farmer John pork production operations harvests approximately 7,400 hogs per day and, in fiscal 2016, the businesses accounted for approximately US$500 million in sales and earnings per share of approximately 3 cents.
Clougherty Packing LLC is based in southern California and is an integrated producer and processor of a line of branded pork products. Saag's Specialty Meats is a brand of deli meat and specialty sausage made without artificial flavors, colors, fillers, extenders or MSG. Altogether, the operations will add 2,000 employees, growing Smithfield's total workforce to 52,000.
