WH Group Limited, the world's largest pork company, announced that its subsidiary, Smithfield Foods, Inc. completed the acquisition of the 100% equity interests in Mecom Group. Mecom Group has become an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of the company upon the completion.

The Mecom Group has two meat processing plants in Slovakia- in Lučenec and Humenné, and together they process 5,000 tons of meat products per month. They also have two smaller plants located in Hungary; one in Szolnok, which specializes in the production of traditional molded salami and processes 220 tons of meat products per month. The second plant is located in Békescsaba and produces 350 metric tons of salami per month under the traditional Csabai brand.

Mecom exports up to 54% of its production and its largest export markets are Hungary, the Czech Republic and Germany. The group employs more than 1,400 people and in 2020 Mecom Group's revenues reached more than €138 million.

"Mecom Group is the market leader in Slovakia and the second largest packaged meats producer in Hungary. This acquisition aligns with the Company's strategic development plan to further expand its global business with packaged meat products as its core business and is expected to bring synergies to our existing operations,” said Wan Long, WH Group chairman and chief executive officer.

Long said the acquisition expands and connects its current European business geographically. “We believe that the acquisition will enhance the company's competitiveness in the European as well as the global markets, thereby strengthening the leading position of WH Group in the global market."