Dive Brief:
- Poultry producer Pilgrim, formerly known as Pilgrim's Pride, has offered to buy deli meat giant Hillshire Brands in an all-cash deal worth $6.4 billion
- The offer comes just days after Hillshire announced it would acquire Pinnacle Foods, maker of brands such as Vlasic pickles and Birds Eye frozen vegetables
- Hillshire did not immediately respond to the offer.
Dive Insight:
It's far too early to tell whether or not this deal will go through. But it's not too early to note two interesting angles to this story.
First, the offer appears aimed at halting Hillshire's acquisition of Pinnacle. Just why Pilgrim (and its parent JBS) would want to do that isn't entirely clear. Second, Pilgrim has been a darling of Wall Street in recent years, but it was getting pretty tough to imagine how the company could find enough growth to keep investors happy. This merger may be Pilgrim's solution to that problem.