The US government is unlikely to block Chinese meat company Shuanghui International’s US$4.7 billion deal to buy Smithfield Foods on national security grounds, one person familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The deal, if approved, would be the largest ever acquisition of a US company by a Chinese firm.
The bid - an effort to feed a growing Chinese appetite for US pork - has stirred some concern among US politicians and faced review by a committee of several government agencies overseen by the Treasury Department.
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) is an executive branch panel that examines foreign investment for potential threats to national security. It said in late July it would take a further 45 days to review Shuanghui’s plan to purchase Smithfield, which was set to conclude by Saturday.
Smithfield, the world’s biggest pork producer, declined to comment ahead of the panel’s decision.
Some lawmakers expressed concerns the deal could jeopardize US food safety and raise pork prices for American consumers.
However, most analysts familiar with the CFIUS process said the review was largely procedural and expected the deal to go through since there were no clear national security issues involved.
