With Chicken Prices Soaring, Sanderson Farms Sold for $4.5 Billion

With Chicken Prices Soaring, Sanderson Farms Sold for $4.5 Billion
Cargill grain elevators in East St. Louis, Ill., on April 12, 2006. James A. Finley/AP Photo
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With the price of chicken soaring, the third-largest poultry producer in the United States is being bought for $4.53 billion.

Cargill and Continental Grain have formed a joint venture to acquire Sanderson Farms, paying $203 per share in cash for a company that last year processed more than 4.8 billion pounds of meat.