National Beef Inc. announces plan to go public

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The owner of National Beef Packing Co., the nation’s fourth-largest beef processor, says it is going public.

Kansas City-based National Beef Inc. filed paperwork Tuesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission saying it will make an initial public stock offering.

A date for the offering, number of shares and expected share price haven’t yet been released. National Beef Packing reported $4 billion in sales through the first three quarters of its fiscal year, down 5 percent from a year ago, but net profits were up 85 percent.

The announcement comes eight months after National Beef Packing called off a proposed acquisition by Brazil-based beef producer JBS SA.