US meat giant Tyson Foods has won a bidding war to take over sausage maker Hillshire Brands, with its sharply increased bid forcing Brazilian-owned rival Pilgrim's Pride to pull out.
Tyson submitted a $US63 dollar a share all-cash offer, topping Pilgrim's Pride's previous $US55 bid, and Pilgrim's, mainly a chicken processor, withdrew from the two-week-old fight.
Locked in the low-margin meat processing industry, both companies were seeking to move downstream into branded, processed foods where profits are higher and income more stable.
Tyson's bid was worth $US8.6 billion ($A9.30 billion), including the assumption of Hillshire debt, far above the $US6.4 billion first offered on May 27 by Pilgrim's Pride.
Hillshire, which makes Jimmy Dean sausages and Ball Park hot dogs, acknowledged the new offer, while refraining from saying it had been accepted.
To allow the Tyson takeover to go through, Hillshire must first undo its own early May commitment to take over another branded foods business, Pinnacle Foods.
Tyson has said its offer is contingent on Hillshire cancelling the takeover of Pinnacle, which is now expected given Tyson's increased offer.
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