Pilgrim’s Pride in takeover bid for Hillshire Brands

Associated Press

NEW YORK

Pilgrim’s Pride launched a takeover bid for Hillshire Brands on Tuesday that would expand its business beyond fresh and frozen chicken into a variety of packaged meats, including Ball Park hot dogs and Jimmy Dean sausages.

The $5.58 billion offer could derail Hillshire’s plans to buy Pinnacle Foods, which makes Birds Eye frozen vegetables, Duncan Hines cake mixes and Hungry Man frozen dinners.

Hillshire had announced the $4.23 billion deal earlier this month as a way to expand into different parts of the supermarket.

But Pilgrim’s Pride says its offer of $45 per share for Hillshire is “substantially superior” and would allow the companies to cut costs by merging some operations and become a “protein leader” that sells more types of meat.