US meat giant Tyson Foods won the bidding war to take over sausage maker Hillshire Brands Monday, when its sharply increased bid forced Brazilian-owned rival Pilgrim's Pride to pull out. Tyson submitted a $63 dollar a share all-cash offer, topping Pilgrim's Pride's previous $55 bid, and Pilgrim's, mainly a chicken processor, withdrew from the two-week-old fight.
Locked in the low-margin meat processing industry, both companies were seeking to move downstream into branded, processed foods where profits are higher and income more stable. Tyson's bid was worth $8.6 billion, including the assumption of Hillshire debt, far above the $6.4 billion first offered on May 27 by Pilgrim's Pride.