Tyson Foods has sold its stake in Beyond Meat in advance of the analogue meat company’s initial public offering, possibly due to tensions over Tyson’s own plans to venture into that market, according to a report at Axios.com.
The report by Dan Patrick in Axios’ Pro Rata newsletter states that Tyson’s 6.5% ownership stake had disappeared from the latest iteration of Beyond Meat’s IPO filing on April 22. Citing “multiple sources,” Patrick writes that tensions had been building since Tyson announced plans to develop its own products for the analogue-meat market.
According to the Axios report, the relationship became so bad that Beyond Meat tried to keep Tyson representatives out of its board meetings, despite being obligated as a condition of Tyson’s investment to allow them. Patrick also writes that Tyson apparently made at least an informal takeover offer but was rebuffed.
Beyond Meat filed an IPO notice with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 22 for a listing on Nasdaq. The notice specified 8.75 million shares at $19 to $21 a share.
