Sanderson Farms Inc. is nearing a deal to sell itself for around $4.5 billion, according to people familiar with the matter, as the poultry giant rides a wave of demand for chicken products.
Sanderson
SAFM,
It would value Sanderson at $203 a share, about 30% above the price before The Wall Street Journal reported in June that the company had attracted interest from suitors including Continental.
Mississippi-based Sanderson is the country’s third-biggest chicken producer. It runs 13 poultry plants from North Carolina to Texas, processing about 13.6 million chickens a week. The company supplies grocery chains including Walmart Inc.
WMT,
Combining Sanderson with Georgia-based Wayne Farms LLC, a poultry company owned by Continental, would form a new competitor representing about 15% of U.S. chicken production, according to data from Watt Poultry USA. Tyson Foods Inc.
TSN,
An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.
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