Pilgrim's Pride Corporation has announced that the company and six of its subsidiaries have emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after a 13-month restructuring.

In connection with its emergence, the company has entered into a $1.75 billion exit credit facility with CoBank, ACB, as Administrative Agent and Collateral Agent; CoBank, Bank of Montreal and Rabobank International, as Joint Syndication Agents; CoBank, Rabobank, Bank of Montreal, Barclays Capital, Morgan Stanley Senior Funding, Inc. and ING Capital LLC, as Joint Lead Arrangers and Joint Bookrunners; and Barclays Bank PLC, Morgan Stanley Senior Funding, Inc. and ING Capital LLC, as Joint Documentation Agents. The exit credit facility is secured by substantially all of the company's assets. Under the terms of the company's plan of reorganisation, all creditors of the company and its debtor subsidiaries holding allowed claims will be paid in full as soon as practicable. In the case of bondholders, payment will be made either through reinstatement of the bonds or in accordance with the holder's previous election of a cash-out option.

Under the terms of the confirmed plan, all of the shares of the company's common stock outstanding immediately prior to the effective date of the plan were cancelled and converted on a one-for-one basis into the right to receive new shares of the reorganised company. The reorganised company issued 64 per cent of its common stock to JBS USA Holdings, Inc. in exchange for $800 million in cash. The remaining 36 per cent of the common stock of the reorganised company was issued to stockholders existing immediately prior to the effective date. Proceeds from the sale of the common stock of reorganized Pilgrim's Pride to JBS are being used to fund cash distributions to unsecured creditors.

The reorganised company's common stock will begin trading tomorrow on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol 'PPC'.

Don Jackson, president and chief executive officer of the Company, said: "Pilgrim's Pride today begins a new chapter as a market-driven company clearly focused on delivering the highest levels of service, selection and value to our customers as efficiently as possible.

"Over the past 13 months, we have made significant improvements across our organisation aimed at positioning Pilgrim's Pride to respond quickly to the needs of the market. Those changes have touched every aspect of our business, from supply chain and operations to sales and marketing. Thanks to the commitment and support of our 41,000 employees and 4,500 growers, Pilgrim's Pride today is a stronger, leaner company with a growing customer base, improved capital structure and a culture built on results and accountability. We are very excited about the strategic opportunities available with JBS as our majority shareholder and we look forward to generating sustained, profitable growth in the future."