Smithfield Foods makes tepid debut after IPO size carved

Smithfield Foods

28/01/2025 18:20

**  Smithfield Foods  SFD.O  edges up in Nasdaq debut on
Tues after IPO priced well shy of expectations
  
    ** SFD opens at $21.05 vs $20 IPO price. Stock last trading
at $20.08
  
    ** Largest U.S. pork processor and its Hong Kong-listed
parent WH Group  0288.HK  each  ~13.04 mln shares for total
raise of ~$522 mln
  
    ** They had intended to offer 34.8 mln shares, split
equally, at $23-$27, for up to ~$940 mln raise
  
    ** WH's chairman, Wan Long, agreed to buy up to $64 mln of
IPO shares, which is being funded by a commercial loan,
according to a late 
  
    ** WH, which bought co in 2013 for $4.7 bln and took it
private, will 
    still own more than 90% of SFD
  
    ** Morgan Stanley, BofA, Goldman Sachs, Barclays and
Citigroup are jt bookrunners for the IPO
  

(Lance Tupper is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed
are his own)
((lance.tupper@tr.com 1-646-279-6380))