The acquisition of IBP by tyson foods in 2001: Pre- and post-merger financial performance

One of the ways IBP originally kept costs down in relation to other firms was their use of lower-wage, non-union workers at a time when most meatpackers employed a union labor force. Consolidation in retail markets was also affecting IBP as the reduction in grocery retailers, IBP's primary consumers, necessitated a product strategy that was less supply-driven and more sensitive to these consumers' unique needs. The bidding for IBP continued on November 12, 2000, when Smithfield Foods Inc., the largest US hog and pork producer, made an unsolicited bid to acquire IBP for $2.7 billion in stock, plus a $1.4 billion assumption of debt. The only thing stopping the progress of the acquisition was a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation into some of the accounting practices of a very small division of IBP called DFG.