Tyson Wins Hillshire Bid Against Self

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Dana Mattioli, Tyson Wins Bid Against Self; Meat Titan pays $650 million more than needed for  Hillshire after rival stands pat. Wall Street Journal, June 10, 2014 (front page).
online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB20001424052702303406804579613860258363296

Quote:

“That was due to the secretive way auctions for companies are conducted. The setup is not like a live art auction when a bidder knows where his rival stands. Rather, it is more like the frenzied sale of a house in a prime location, where a bidder tucks a price into an envelope, trying to guess what dollar figure it needs to come out on top.

To win the bid for Chicago-based Hillshire Brands Co, Tyson Foods Inc's “price of $63 a share * * * or $7.7 billion [total] turned out to be far more than Tyson needed to pay to beat out Pilgrim's Pride Corp, a unit of Brazilian meatpacking giant JBS SA

“Pilgrim's Pride joined the weekend auction for Hillshire—but * * * stuck with its $55-a-share bid * * * but Tyson didn't know it during the auction, said a person familiar with Tyson's offer. Under the rules of the bidding, Tyson could have won by exceeding the Pilgrim's Pride bid by around $2.50 a share. Because Pilgrim's Pride held firm at $55 a share, Tyson could have won with a bid of around $57.50, or $7.05 billion, said people familiar with the sale,

“The frenzy for Hillshire, a ping-pong match of four bids between two rivals in that many weeks, is the latest sign of the hot mergers and acquisitions market

My comment: There is no need need to read the rest. My goal is to show you how corporate bidding is done, at least in this case.