John Bekkers, president and chief executive officer of Gold Kist, confirmed Monday in a local interview with the Democrat that Gold Kist had rejected a $20 per share buy-out offer from rival Pilgrim’s Pride.

“Twenty dollars is certainly not the number,” he said before a growers appreciation dinner at the First Baptist Church in Live Oak. Gold Kist stock, which had been trading at about $12 a share, soared overnight to $20 after the takeover bid was announced Aug. 18.

Should Pilgrim’s Pride raise its offer, Bekkers said the Gold Kist board of directors would have to reconsider. “We believe in our own destiny,” he said. “But they may pay enough to where it’s worth the value of the company.” However, he added, “that’s not where we are today.” Bekkers said that even should a merger occur, business would continue as usual for plant workers and local poultry producers.

“If they were to buy us, they still need good employees and good growers,” he said.

The buy-out bid was Pilgrim’s Pride’s third attempt since February to take control of Gold Kist. The deal was valued at about $1 billion.

Pilgrim’s Pride is the nation’s second largest chicken producer. Gold Kist is the third. Pilgrim’s Pride’s hopes to gain ground on industry leader Tyson Foods, which controls 24 percent of the national market. Pilgrim’s Pride has 16 percent and Gold Kist, nine percent.