Hormel Foods Recommends Stockholders Reject Unsolicited Below-Market Price Mini-Tender Offer By TRC Capital Corporation

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Investors

September 28, 2016

Austin, Minn.

Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE:HRL) (the “Company”) today announced that it received notice of an unsolicited “mini-tender” offer made by TRC Capital Corporation (“TRC Capital”) to Hormel Foods stockholders to purchase up to 3,000,000 shares of Company common stock at a price of $36.25 per share.

TRC Capital’s offer price represents a discount of $1.62 per share, or 4.28 percent, below the Company’s closing price of $37.87 on September 23, 2016, the day prior to the date of the offer. The offer is for approximately 0.57% of the outstanding shares of the Company’s common stock.

The Company does not endorse this unsolicited mini-tender offer and recommends that stockholders do not tender their shares because the offer price is below the Company’s current share price. The Company urges stockholders to obtain current market quotations for their shares of Company common stock, consult with their financial advisor and exercise caution with respect to TRC Capital’s offer.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) has issued an investor alert regarding mini-tender offers, noting that in making the offers at below-market prices “bidders are hoping that they will catch investors off-guard if the investors do not compare the offer price to the current market price.” The SEC’s investor alert can be found on the SEC Web site at http://www.sec.gov/investor/pubs/minitend.htm.

According to the SEC, mini-tender offers are for less than 5 percent of a company’s stock and typically do not provide the same investor protections required of larger tender offers, including the filing of disclosure and other tender offer documents with the SEC and other procedures mandated by U.S. securities laws. TRC Capital has made many similar unsolicited mini-tender offers for shares of other public companies.

Hormel Foods stockholders who already have tendered their shares are advised that they may withdraw their shares by providing the written notice described in the TRC Capital offering documents prior to the expiration of the offer, currently scheduled for 12:01 a.m. New York City time on October 25, 2016.

The Company encourages brokers and dealers, as well as other market participants, to review the SEC’s letter regarding broker-dealer mini-tender offer dissemination and disclosure, which can be found on the SEC Web site at http://www.sec.gov/divisions/marketreg/minitenders/sia072401.htm.

The Company requests that a copy of this news release be included with all distributions of materials relating to TRC Capital’s mini-tender offer related to shares of Company common stock.

About Hormel Foods

Hormel Foods Corporation, based in Austin, Minn., is a multinational manufacturer and marketer of consumer-branded food and meat products, many of which are among the best known and trusted in the food industry. Hormel Foods, which leverages its extensive expertise, innovation and high competencies in pork and turkey processing and marketing to bring branded, value-added products to the global marketplace, is celebrating its 125th anniversary in 2016. The company is a member of the Standard & Poor’s (S&P) 500 Index, S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats, and was named one of “The 100 Best Corporate Citizens” by Corporate Responsibility Magazine for the eighth year in a row. Hormel Foods also received a perfect score on the 2016 Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index, was recognized on the 2016 Best for Vets Employers List by Military Times, and was named one of the 2016 Best Companies for Leaders by Chief Executive magazine. The company enjoys a strong reputation among consumers, retail grocers, foodservice and industrial customers for products highly regarded for quality, taste, nutrition, convenience and value. For more information, visit http://www.hormelfoods.com and http://2015csr.hormelfoods.com.