Wayne Farms Inc., the sixth largest poultry producer in the U.S., and the subsidiary of Continental Grain Co., one of the largest privately held U.S. corporations, has filed for an initial public offering (IPO). Continental Grain was originally a grain merchant, founded in Belgium 200 years ago by Simon Fribourg, it has evolved to become a multi-national investment firm.
The preliminary filing did not mention the number of share expected to be sold or their price, but it did list a targeted financing goal of $100 million, although this initial fundraising target will be used to calculate registration fees, and the final size of the IPO could be different.
Wayne Farm supplies companies that include Nestle SA, Costco Wholesale Corp., and Chick-fil-A. Net income of Wayne Farm LLC climbed 74% in the nine months ending December 27, 2014 to reach $174.31 million – up from $100.36 million the year before. Total net sales climbed 6.6% in that time to $1.70 billion.
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