Mexican firm buys US poultry company

Mexico City, July 11 (IANS/EFE) Industrias Bachoco, Mexico's largest producer of poultry products and eggs, said in a securities filing it was buying US-based Morris Hatchery for an undisclosed sum.

"An agreement has been reached to acquire the assets of the Morris Hatchery reproduction farms, located in Arkansas," Bachoco said in a filing with the Mexican Stock Exchange.

The deal covers "equipment and inventory of birds, and it has capacity for approximately 350,000 reproducing birds, producers of incubated eggs", Bachoco said.

"This is a strategic acquisition for Bachoco for different reasons," including the fact that "it will immediately bolster the supply of incubated eggs for our operations in Mexico and the United States", Bachoco CEO Rodolfo Ramos Arvizu said.

Officials declared a health emergency Feb 15 after Bachoco reported a possible outbreak of avian flu at its farms in Guanajuato state, forcing poultry farmers to destroy 4 million birds.

A bird flu outbreak in June 2012 led to the destruction of more than 22 million birds and caused shortages of eggs and chicken in Mexico, sending poultry prices skyrocketing.

--IANS/EFE

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