Pilgrim’s Pride, the Greeley, Colorado-based poultry group whose European arm, Pilgrim’s Europe, includes Moy Park, has formed a special committee of independent and disinterested directors to review a proposal from majority owner JBS to buy the shares it does not already own. The committee has selected Ropes & Gray LLP as legal counsel and Moelis & Company LLC as financial adviser, the company said on 9 October 2026.

Pilgrim’s Pride described the approach as an unsolicited proposal received from JBS N.V. on 18 August 2026 to acquire all of its outstanding common stock that JBS does not currently own. The board will not approve the transaction without the favourable recommendation of the special committee, and any deal is expected to be conditioned on the affirmative vote of a majority of the votes cast by holders of shares not held by JBS. The company said there is no assurance that a definitive agreement will be reached or a transaction completed. It gave no timetable for the review and did not name the committee’s members.

What JBS has offered

JBS said on 18 August that it had submitted a non-binding proposal under which Pilgrim’s Pride shareholders would receive 2.086 JBS Class A shares for each share they own, Just Food reported at the time, putting the value of the offer at $28.49 per share. If a deal is completed, Pilgrim’s Pride would be delisted from Nasdaq.

JBS owns about 82% of Pilgrim’s Pride through its US unit, JBS USA, according to Just Food. It took control in 2009, buying a 64% stake for $800m following Pilgrim’s Pride’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and sought full ownership in 2021 before withdrawing that approach a year later.

JBS said in August that a deal would simplify its organisational structure, remove Pilgrim’s Pride’s standalone public company costs and allow more flexible and efficient capital allocation across the group, according to Just Food. Food Manufacture reported that JBS chairman Jeremiah O’Callaghan said the two companies had worked together for more than 16 years and that the proposal would let Pilgrim’s Pride stockholders keep participating in the company’s future performance through ownership of JBS shares.

The approach coincided with a leadership change at JBS. Just Food reported in August that Wesley Batista Filho, chief executive of JBS USA, had been named group chief executive from January, with Gilberto Tomazoni stepping down as chief executive to become vice chairman of the board.

Why it matters in the UK

A completed deal would put Pilgrim’s Europe under JBS’s full ownership. Pilgrim’s Europe employs more than 17,000 people across more than 40 sites in the UK, Ireland, France and the Netherlands, according to Just Food, and its brands include Moy Park, Richmond and Fridge Raiders. Food Manufacture reported that Pilgrim’s Europe made after-tax profits of £128.4 million in its 2024 financial year, up 21.1% on the previous year.

Pilgrim’s Europe has also been adding UK processed meat capacity. In August it agreed to buy Walkers Deli & Sausage Company, which runs four manufacturing facilities on one Leicester site and employs about 1,150 people, from Samworth Brothers. Just Food reported that, according to a Pilgrim’s Pride SEC filing, the consideration was about £141.5m on a debt-free, cash-free basis, and that completion was expected in September subject to Competition and Markets Authority clearance and employee consultation. F&B Today has not confirmed whether that deal has completed.

F&B Today’s reading

  • Analysis: For UK retailers and foodservice buyers sourcing chicken and pork from Pilgrim’s Europe, a buyout need not by itself change supply contracts, but decisions on capital spending at Moy Park and its sister businesses would then sit inside a single listed JBS group rather than a separately listed subsidiary.
  • Analysis: The special committee, its own advisers and the majority-of-minority vote give independent shareholders a say on price, and JBS walked away from its 2021 approach. Suppliers and customers should not treat completion as certain.
  • Analysis: Rival UK meat processors should note that Pilgrim’s Europe agreed a UK processed meat acquisition in the same week JBS made its proposal. If JBS achieves the more flexible capital allocation it describes, further UK bolt-on deals are possible.