Spanish meats group Campofrio gets new foreign owners

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Campofrio brand products are seen in the display of a supermarket in Pontevedra, northern Spain, November 14, 2013.

Mexican frozen food company Sigma and Shuanghui International Holdings of China reached a deal on Monday to share ownership of Spanish meat processor Campofrio (CPF.MC) in a deal that values the company at 700 million euros ($957 million).

The deal gives Sigma an initial 44.7 percent of Campofrio, a household name in Spain, and allows Shuanghui to keep its 37 percent stake in the canned ham and hot dog group without having to launch a full takeover bid itself.

Sigma, part of Mexican conglomerate Alfa (ALFAA.MX), will launch a bid to delist the remaining 18 percent of Campofrio from the stock market following the agreement with Shuanghui, the two said in a joint statement on Monday.

Campofrio shareholders with 44.5 percent of the company had already backed Sigma's 6.8 euro per share bid last month, but the intentions of Shuanghui, which inherited its stake after buying U.S. Smithfield Foods in September, were unclear.

Under the deal made public on Monday, Shuanghui will sell shares to Sigma at 6.9 euros each to bring its stake below 30 percent, the legal requirement for launching a full bid, and then buy them back to become Campofrio's second largest shareholder.

Campofrio's shares, which had climbed in recent months on hopes for a takeover battle, fall 8.4 percent to 6.88 euros each by 1020 GMT. Trading in the shares, which had been suspended before the market opened, resumed after the announcement.($1 = 0.7315 euros)(Reuters)(GNN)

(Reporting by Tracy Rucinski; Editing by Fiona Ortiz)