Mecom sold to U.S. Smithfield Foods
Penta sold Slovakia’s largest meat processor, Mecom, to U.S. Smithfield Foods (brands Smithfield, Eckrich and Nathan’s and Morliny Berlinki), controlled by Chinese WH Group. Mecom employs 1,400 in Humenné and two plants in Hungary, and had €138m sales last year. Penta paid almost €100m for Mecom to Ján Molnár 13 years ago and has lost €140m since then. It did not disclose the price now, but sme.sk estimates it at €25-45m. The new owner might invest in pig farms; in Poland, it runs both pig farms and meat processing facilities.
