Chinese offer $4.75B for Smithfield Foods

Chinese offer $4.75B for Smithfield Foods

RICHMOND, Va.

The ham sandwich you had for lunch is the latest example of China’s growing appetite for U.S. investment.

Smithfield Foods Inc., one of the biggest pork producers in the U.S., agreed Wednesday to be bought by Shuanghui International Holdings Ltd., the majority shareholder in China’s largest meat processor, for about $4.72 billion.

The deal, which still faces a federal regulatory review and Smithfield shareholder approval, is the largest takeover of a U.S. company by a Chinese firm. It’s the latest in a string of such deals made recently by Chinese companies.

But the acquisition is likely to face hefty U.S. scrutiny. It comes at a time when China has had serious food-safety concerns, some of which have included Shuanghui.

Bankruptcy judge OKs benefit cuts

ST. LOUIS

A bankrupt coal producer got a judge’s go-ahead Wednesday to significantly cut health care and pension benefits to thousands of workers and retirees, claiming victory over a miners’ union that swiftly condemned the ruling it pledges to appeal.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kathy Surratt-States’ 102-page ruling favoring St. Louis-based Patriot Coal dashed the nation’s biggest coal miners’ union’s hopes of scuttling the company’s quest to impose wage and benefit cuts by walking away from its collective- bargaining agreements.

Judge Surratt-States concluded the cost-cutting proposals were legal, perhaps unavoidable, for Patriot, which sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last summer to address labor obligations it insisted have grown unsustainable.

Associated Press