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Report says new Shuanghui/Smithfield would list on Hong Kong exchange

The Chinese company which wants to buy Smithfield Foods plans to list the new combined entity on the Hong Kong stock exchange. Shuanghui International has offered $4.7 billion and will assume debt making the total package for Smithfield around $7.1 billion. The Bank of China and Morgan Stanley have combined to provide $7 billion to finance the deal.

Should the deal go through, Smithfield would be delisted from the New York Stock Exchange, Reuters says a Hong Kong IPO offering around 20 percent of the new company would be valued at around $4 billion; more than on any other exchange. Shuanghui could use the proceeds to pay down debt. The report says the Hong Kong listing “would also offer an ideal exit route for Shuanghui’s private equity investors including Goldman Sachs and New Horizons.” New Horizons is a private equity firm founded by the son of a former Chinese Premier.

A spokesperson for Shuanghui International told “just-food” the company remains focused on completing the acquisition of Smithfield and “We are not aware and we will not speculate about any plan for the combined company to access the equity capital markets.”

The deal is still being reviewed by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.