Reuters / Brazil’s JBS SA, the world’s largest beef producer, said Nov. 5 it signed a deal to buy local poultry processor Agroveneto for 128 million reais ($63 million) just months after its first move into the Brazilian poultry sector.
JBS said in a statement that it would acquire Agroveneto, which specializes in ground poultry meat and is based in the southern state of Santa Catarina, by taking on its debts plus giving the owners 10 million reais worth of JBS shares. The deal must still be approved by the JBS board and regulatory authorities. Agroveneto has capacity to process 140,000 birds a day, whose meat is sold in Brazil and export markets.
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It would merge with JBS poultry unit JBS Aves and add about 10 per cent to the unit’s daily processing capacity of 1.34 million birds.
“The acquisition of Agroveneto complements JBS’s business in the poultry sector in Brazil,” the company’s statement said.
JBS began poultry operations in Brazil for the first time this year when it leased the assets of Frangosul, controlled by French poultry producer Doux. It already has a large U.S. poultry operation through its subsidiary Pilgrim’s Pride.
Brazil is one of the world’s top producers and exporters of chicken meat, underpinned by the country’s large production of grains such as corn which are used as feed.
The now-giant meat company grew from humble origins as a small family-run meat-packing plant acquired in 1988 through a wave of acquisitions whose pace has slowed in recent years.
