Smithfield Purchaser WH Group Looks to Conduct $6B IPO in Hong Kong

WH Group, the China-based company which acquired Smithfield Farms in 2012 for $6 billion, is looking to conduct an IPO on the Hong Kong stock exchange.

The WSJ notes that WH Group is planning to price its total IPO from $5 to $6 billion. The pricing puts the IPO valuation at around 20 times expected FY14 EPS. U.S. peers like Tyson (NYSE: TSN) and Hormel (NYSE: HRL) go for around 17.4 times expected earnings for this year.

WH Group plans to take orders from investors on April 10th and move to list on April 29th. It will be the largest IPO on the Hong Kong exchange since Li Ka-shing's $3.1 billion deal and will also use 28 banks to conduct the transaction, a record for the exchange.

Total valuation for WH Group is $20 to $25 billion, or 19.5 to 24.2 times expected FY14 earnings.

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