JBS unit will buy smoked meat maker

GREELEY — Swift Prepared Foods will buy Sunnyvalley Smoked Meats Inc. for $90 million.

Swift sells packaged foods and is a unit of JBS USA LLC, which is 81%-owned by global meat processor JBS SA in Brazil. JBS SA also owns beef and pork processor Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. (Nasdaq: PPC).

JBS USA and Pilgrim’s Pride are in Greeley. Swift Prepared Foods is based in Chicago.

Sunnyvalley processes ham, turkey, bacon and pork products in 100,000 square feet of space in Manteca, California, between Stockton and Modesto. Its website said the company employs about 325 workers and planned in 2020 to add a new 60,000-square foot facility focused on bacon processing.

William Andreetta started the company in 1990. He had bought Manteca Meat Service from his father in 1972. A trade journal said Sunnyvalley has sold mainly to retailers on the west coast of North America, including Mexico and Alaska. It was producing about 35 million pounds of meat a year as of 2017.

JBS said in a press release that Sunnyvalley has about $150 million in annual sales.

The acquisition boosts Swift’s “value-added and branded portfolio [providing] more diverse product offerings to customers and consumers,” said Tom Lopez, president and chief operating officer, Swift Prepared Foods.

Swift currently has processing facilities in Mississippi, Missouri, Indiana, Iowa and Vermont.

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