001209 Deal Would Make Tyson Top Beef-Pork Marketer

New York - Tyson Foods Inc. said it would buy IBP Inc. for about $2.8 billion in a deal that will make Tyson, already the world's largest chicken producer, the world's top marketer of beef and pork.

Springdale, Ark.-based Tyson said it would pay $26 per share, half in stock and half in cash, for Dakota Dunes, S.D.-based IBP.

Including the assumption of about $1.4 billion in IBP debt, the transaction would have a total value of about $4.2 billion, Tyson said.

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