When Chinese suitors took over the pork producer in Smithfield, Virginia, it sent tremors through the tiny town that calls itself the Ham Capital of the World. Three years on, residents and union leaders who represent workers at Smithfield Foods Inc. say the initial fears about the buyer from a Communist-ruled nation proved unfounded. The happy marriage so far belies the rhetoric on the U.S presidential campaign trail that depicts China as an untrustworthy business partner, and serves as an example of Chinese investment that can benefit both countries.
At the time, the $4.7 billion acquisition of Smithfield Foods in 2013 by Shuanghui International Holdings Ltd. marked the biggest purchase of an American firm by a Chinese company. It was also controversial. U.S. senators expressed concern the deal would jeopardize the security of America’s food supply, and residents of the town of 8,300 people worried Shuanghui would cut jobs or move the company from Smithfield, where it was founded in 1936. Instead, the U.S. workforce under the Chinese owners now known as WH Group Ltd. has expanded by more than 1,000 people, to almost 39,000, and rather than cutting back investment, capital spending by the Chinese-owned unit has climbed -- rising 24 percent last year, to $313 million.