Pilgrim's Pride tops Tyson Foods' offer for Hillshire

[June 03, 2014]   (Reuters) - Pilgrim's Pride Corp, the second largest U.S. chicken processor, raised its offer for Hillshire Brands Co, escalating a bidding war with Tyson Foods Inc for the maker of Jimmy Dean sausages.

Hillshire's shares rose 9 percent at $58.50 in premarket trading, after Pilgrim's Pride said it raised its offer to $55 per share in cash from $45.

Tyson Foods, the largest U.S. meat processor, has offered $50 per share in cash.

Hillshire said it would "provide information" to both bidders and conduct talks with them.

Pilgrim's Pride said its offer valued Hillshire at $7.7 billion, including debt. Tyson's offer values Hillshire at $6.8 billion, including $500 million in debt.

The two companies offered to buy Hillshire last week.

Pilgrim's Pride said the raised offer represents a 49 percent premium to Hillshire's share price a day before Hillshire announced a bid for Pinnacle Foods Inc.

Hillshire said on May 12 that it planned to buy Pinnacle, the maker of Birds Eye frozen vegetables, in a deal valued at $4.3 billion, excluding debt.

Hillshire said on Tuesday it was neither making any recommendation with respect to the offers nor modifying or withholding its merger agreement with Pinnacle.

(Reporting by Devika Krishna Kumar and Sruthi Ramakrishnan in Bangalore; Editing by Kirti Pandey)

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