The Justice Department announced today that it will require Tyson Foods Inc. to divest Heinold Hog Markets, its sow purchasing business, in order to proceed with its $8.5 billion acquisition of The Hillshire Brands Company.

Justice said that without the required divestiture, the transaction would have combined companies that account for more than a third of sow purchases from U.S. farmers, thereby likely reducing competition for purchases of sows from farmers.

Three state attorneys general — of Illinois Iowa, and Missouri — joined the department in the civil lawsuit filed today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to block the proposed transaction.

At the same time, the department filed a proposed settlement that, if approved by the court, would resolve the competitive concerns alleged in the department’s lawsuit.

Food & Water Watch praised Justice for insisting on the divestiture but said the merger “leaves consumers vulnerable to higher prices from a more consolidated pork-processing sector.”

“The Justice Department should not have approved this merger until its anticompetitive impacts on consumers could be fully assessed,” Food & Water Watch said. “One month is insufficient time to analyze a merger that joins the largest meat processing company with the eleventh largest firm and creates a vertically integrated pork powerhouse that can exert market power from squeal to sausage.”

▪ Tyson Hillshire Complaint
▪ — Proposed Final Judgment
▪ — Competitive Impact Statement
▪ — Hold Separate Stipulation and Order