Smithfield Foods files for IPO

Virginia’s Smithfield Foods announced Monday it has filed a registration statement to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for its initial public offering.

This is the first step toward the pork and packaged meats giant’s plan of selling common stock on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol SFD.

In November 2024, Smithfield’s parent company, China-based WH Group, announced it would take the Virginia subsidiary public in early 2025. WH Group said then it plans to offer up to 20% of Smithfield’s stock shares, reducing the parent company’s ownership to 80%. Smithfield recorded a net asset value of $5.38 billion as of Sept. 30, 2024, and its share offering is expected to be valued at $5.4 billion, according to that announcement.

Monday’s statement said that the shareholder plans to sell shares, but “the offering is subject to market conditions, and there can be no assurance as to whether or when the offering may be completed, or as to the actual size or terms of the offering.”

The largest pork producer in the United States, Smithfield Foods has about 34,000 employees nationwide. In December 2024, the company signed a deal with VisionAg, an affiliate of North Carolina’s HD3 Farms, to start a new hog production business in early 2025 in Cary, North Carolina. Smithfield will purchase a 9% minority interest in the business for $450,000 in cash, the SEC document submitted Monday says.

In September 2024, Smithfield’s European operations were carved into an independent subsidiary now known as Morliny Foods, part of a streamlining effort before going public.

Smithfield Foods also said it would transfer some of its hog farming operations to a venture controlled by Murphy Family Ventures in North Carolina, Bloomberg reported earlier in December. According to the SEC filing, Smithfield paid Murphy $3 million in cash in exchange for a 25% minority interest in the enterprise, which will supply approximately 3.2 million hogs to Smithfield annually.

In December 2024, Smithfield sold its hog production assets in Utah for $58 million, resulting in a gain of $32 million, and in November 2024, the company sold some of its Missouri hog farms for $32 million at a loss of $4 million, it said in the filing.

The company also settled child labor claims in November 2024 with the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry, paying $2 million. Minnesota alleged that 11 underage workers were employed at Smithfield Packaged Meats in St. James, Minnesota, performing hazardous work and, in the case of nine children, working at night after hours allowed under state law. Smithfield said in a statement that it denied knowingly hiring anyone under age 18 at the facility.

This story has been corrected.