SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL – More than six months after its board of directors announced the approval of a proposal to acquire the remaining ownership shares of Pilgrim’s Pride Corp.’s poultry and pork businesses, JBS SA announced on Feb. 17, it would withdraw the offer after the two sides were not able to agree to terms. The Brazil-based company’s subsidiary, JBS USA, which currently has an 80% ownership stake in Pilgrim’s, initially made an unsolicited offer of $26.50 per share in August 2021. If accepted, Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. would have been delisted on the NASDAQ as a publicly held company based in the United States.

“The proposed transaction aims, specifically, to simplify the corporate structure of JBS and its subsidiaries, maximizing administrative efficiencies, optimizing revenues and increasing even more its operational and strategic flexibility,” said JBS at the time of the offer.

After consideration by its special committee of the board of directors, Pilgrim’s responded that it would not accept the offer unless the purchase price was increased. After JBS increased its per-share offer to $28.50 in November 2021, the special committee again declined the proposal. On Feb. 4, JBS advised the special committee of Pilgrim’s that it would respond to its rejection by the end of the month and said there was a chance that no agreement would be reached. 

On Feb. 17, JBS SA announced that it had withdrawn its offer after it was unable to agree to terms with Pilgrim’s board of directors.

JBS became majority owner of Pilgrim’s Pride in 2009, with an $800 million investment that allowed the financially troubled poultry producer and processor to emerge from bankruptcy protection.