Pilgrim’s Pride to pay $350M for Minnesota chicken processor

GREELEY – Chicken processor Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. (Nasdaq: PPC) on Tuesday announced the company has inked a deal to acquire Minnesota-based GNP Co. for $350 million in cash.

The deal gives Greeley-based Pilgrim’s control of GNP Co.’s Just Bare Certified Organic and Natural/American Human Certified/No-Antibiotics-Ever product lines, adding to Pilgrim’s own NAE and organic production.

The deal is expected to provide $20 million in annual cost savings, primarily from the optimization of production and distribution, and cost savings in purchasing, production, logistics and selling, general and administration, Pilgrim’s officials…