Wayne Farms to raise $100 million in IPO

Wayne Farms, the sixth largest broiler company in the United States, has filed a registration statement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to raise up to $100 million in an initial public offering (IPO) of Class A common stock.

The number of shares or the pricing has not been specified. The shares are said to be traded under the symbol WNFM.

Paul Fribourg, CEO of Wayne Farms’ parent company Continental Grain, said an IPO may be a way for the company to gain capital as commodity markets continue to change. “We were at the low of the commodities cycle in chicken, because grain prices were very high and chicken prices were low. So there was an opportunity to go out and buy very cheap chicken companies,” Fribourg said at a forum in November.

“Today the cycle has gone to the other extreme, where you have incredibly high chicken prices and very low grain prices. It’s not going to last. So at the top of the cycle we’re now looking at ways to lock in either long-term margins, or possibly, for example, take our chicken company public.”