Brazil’s JBS buys rival poultry, pork plant for $2.7-billion
By Amanda Brodhagen, Farms.com
Brazil’s JBS will acquire Marfrig Alimentos poultry and pork plant for U.S. $2.7-billion. The takeover will make JBS, which is already the world’s largest beef processor, the number one poultry processor as well.
JBS announced Monday, that it will assume debt from Marfrig as part of the deal. Beef is the biggest portion of JBS’s business, accounting for 64% of its revenue. It currently generates 22% of its sales from poultry meat. The deal will boost JBS’s poultry unit, while expanding into pork. JBS entered into the poultry business in May 2012, when it purchased a French poultry company. The agreement will also give JBS a leather operation in Uruguay. The agreement marks a period of consolidation in Brazil’s meat industry.
Sergio Rial who is to become CEO of Marfrig in 2014, said the sale puts the company in the best debt position in years, noting that it will cut the load by 60%. The debt load stands at U.S. $6.1-billion.