Tyson Brings Home Even More Bacon

Tyson Foods Inc. of Springdale, the nation’s largest producer of beef and poultry, announced on April 16 that it has signed a letter of intent to buy a Nebraska bacon processing facility.

The facility is owned by Millard Refrigerated Services in Omaha.

Terms of the deal, including the price and closing date, were not available. The purchase has been cleared under federal antitrust regulations, Tyson said in a news release.

The facility employs about 600 and has been primarily involved in co-packing smoked bacon for private brands for retail and foodservice markets. It will continue to co-pack as well as manufacture products under brands owned by Tyson.

The facility, which was refurbished into a state-of-the-art bacon processing plant in the early 1990’s, has about 329,000 SF, including the processing area and cold storage capacity.

Tyson said it is now engaged in the due diligence process, and as a result of that activity will develop a final purchase agreement. The company has received early termination of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvement Act.

Following Tyson Foods’ Feb. 1 shareholders’ meeting, CEO John Tyson told the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal he wanted the company to increase its market share in pork. Tyson bought IBP Inc., the nation’s largest producer of beef, in late September. With that transaction, Tyson now controls 27 percent of the nation’s beef market, 23 percent of the chicken market and 18 percent of the pork market. John Tyson said he hopes to get the pork market up to about 20 percent, a figure that he believes would benefit both Tyson Foods and its customers.

Tyson Foods now employs 120,000 people at 130 facilities in the United States.