JBS Withdraws Offer to Acquire Remainder of Pilgrim's Pride

Six months after initially offering to buy the remaining 20% of poultry supplier Pilgrim's Pride that it doesn't already own, Brazil-based meat giant JBS has officially withdrawn that proposal.

JBS S.A. issued a statement on Feb. 17 saying it had withdrawn the offer after it was "unable to come to an agreement with the Special Committee of the PPC (Pilgrim's Pride Corporation) Board of Directors regarding the terms of the proposed transaction."

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The news comes about two weeks after Pilgrim's posted an update about the proposed transaction for $26.50 per share, noting that the a special committee of the Pilgrim's board informed JBS on Oct. 29 that it would not support the proposal unless JBS "significantly increased" the purchase price. Pilgrim's added that JBS on Nov. 15 offered to raise that offer to $28.50 per share, and that the committee determined that, too, didn't appropriately value the Greeley, CO-based company. Pilgrim's went on to detail that JBS updated the committee on Jan. 12 that it was still evaluating that response. On Feb. 4, JBS said it would give the committee a response by the end of February.

Upon news of JBS' withdrawal, Pilgrim's stock had fallen from $27.94 as of late Thursday afternoon to under $24.00 as of late Friday morning.