Tyson’s Cobb-Vantress Takes Majority Stake in Chinese Hatchery

Cobb-Vantress Inc. of Siloam Springs, a subsidiary of publicly traded Tyson Foods Inc. of Springdale, has taken a majority stake in Hubei Tong Xing Agriculture Co. Ltd., a chicken producer based in China.

The move makes Cobb-Vantress the first primary broiler breeding company to take a majority shareholding position in China for production and sale of parent stock, according to World Poultry magazine.

Per the deal, the joint venture company, Hubei Tong Xing Cobb Breeding Company, will be 85 percent owned by Cobb-Vantress and 15 percent owner by Tong Xing.

The deal marks a $35 million investment in grandparent farm and hatchery facilities in Suizhou in Hubei province, which will start producing parent stock in 2015.

Cobb-Vantress supplies poultry breeding stock to Tyson Foods. The company was founded in 1916 and opened its first hatchery in Siloam Springs in 1961. Tyson Foods bought the company in 1996.