Tyson buys majority stake in India chicken company

Meat producer Tyson Foods Inc. said Monday it bought majority ownership of a poultry processing business in India.

Tyson said it acquired 51 percent ownership of Godrej Foods Ltd., based on Mumbai. Godrej Foods is a subsidiary of agribusiness company Godrej Agrovet Ltd. and makes products under the "Real Good Chicken" brand name. The company also has a line of frozen vegetables under the Yummiez brand.

The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Tyson said the joint venture will be called Godrej Tyson Foods. The company expects annual sales to be in the range of $50 million and will likely grow as operations expand.

The venture includes one chicken processing plant in Mumbai and one in Bangalore. The two plants have a combined capacity of 60,000 birds per day and have about 1,000 contract production workers, Tyson said.

Tyson said efforts to build more processing plants will begin in the next few years.