Smithfield Foods' Chinese owners are considering spinning off the pork business in the US and Mexico with a public listing.

WH Group, which acquired Virginia-based Smithfield Foods in 2013 for a $4.7bn price tag, said it has submitted a proposal to list the company on either the New York Stock Exchange or the Nasdaq bourse.

If the plans go ahead, Smithfield Foods will remain a subsidiary of Hong Kong-listed WH Group, the world’s largest pork processor.

The exact details of the proposed initial public offering have not been finalised and the IPO may not even proceed, WH Group said in statement, adding the plans are subject to approval by the Hong Kong and relevant stock exchanges and the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

“There is no assurance that [the] proposed spin-off will take place or as to when it may take place,” WH Group noted in the filing.

Bloomberg reported last week, quoting unnamed sources, that Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have been hired to look into the proposed IPO, putting the potential value at as much as $1bn.

The listing could happen this year, the news agency’s sources said.

Contacted by Just Food, Smithfield Foods declined to comment further on the planned spin-off and the potential valuation.

Smithfield Foods, which owns brands such as Nathan’s Famous and Farmland, has been closing processing plants in the US of late and cancelling contracts with hog farmers.

Earlier this month, the company announced it planned to close a ham-boning facility in Altoona, Iowa, putting more than 300 jobs on the line.

Production conducted at Altoona will be moved to Smithfield Foods' facilities in Monmouth, Illinois; Sioux Falls in South Dakota; and Crete in Nebraska, the company said.

Last year, Smithfield Foods announced it would close its Charlotte, North Carolina, pork-processing plant and transfer production to the company’s Tar Heel facility in the same state. That move affected 107 jobs.

In 2022, plans were revealed to shutter a pork site in Vernon, California, after Smithfield Foods ceased operations at San Jose in the same state the previous year.

Before 2023 ended, the pork processor also said it would terminate contracts with 26 hog farms in Utah due to “an industry oversupply of pork”, increased feed costs and lower consumer demand.

The same year, the company said it would close 35 hog farm sites in Missouri, affecting 92 employees.

WH Group’s profits fell in the 2023 financial year, coming in at $606m compared to $1.4bn in the previous 12 month reporting period.

Revenue dropped to $26.2bn from $28.2bn, while EBITDA declined to $1.97bn from $3.16bn.