Brazil’s Marfrig is taking control over National Beef Packing
969 million dollar was the price paid by Marfrig Global Foods SA for a 51% share in National Beef Packing Company LLC, as the Brazilian firm mentioned in a statement on 9th of April.
The transaction is valued at $2.3 billion, including the debts, according to the statement released by Marfrig. Rumours about the transaction have started in January when sources inside National Beef mentioned that Leucadia, the majority stakeholder (79%), is considering selling a part or all of its stakes in what is considered to be one of the biggest units in the meat-processing industry from North-America.
National Beef Packing Co. is ranked as the fourth-largest U.S. beef processor behind Tyson Foods Inc., JBS SA and Cargill Inc. The company slaughters about 12.5% of U.S. beef cattle. National Beef reported losses in 2013, 2014 and 2015 but jumped to profit in 2016 (329 million USD) and in the first three quarters of 2017 (310 million USD). Leucadia listed the net book value of its National Beef investment at 629.8 million USD as of Dec. 31, 2016.
The acquisition is making Marfrig the second largest beef processor in the world, with a slaughtering capacity of 8.3 million per year with the combined operations and consolidated sales of $13 billion. Also, gaining control over National Beef opens the gates to exports markets such as Jpan and South Korea, currently closed to Brazilian beef.
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