São Paulo – This Thursday (20th), Brazil’s JBS, the global leader in beef, mutton and poultry processing, has announced the acquisition of two companies – the Big Frango group, based in the Brazilian state of Paraná, for R$ 430 million, and Primo Smallgoods, from Australia, in a deal worth 1.450 billion Australian dollars, or US$ 1.25 billion at current exchange rates. The information was released on JBS’ Investor Relations website.
The Big Frango deal was carried out by subsidiary JBS Foods and its poultry unit JBS Aves. Apart from the Big Frango business itself, the deal comprises the company’s animal feed arm Nutribig and Agrícola Jandelle. Big Frango is a major poultry industry conglomerates in Southern Brazil, and slaughters 460,000 birds per day at two export-accredited facilities. The company posts annual revenues in excess of R$ 1 billion (US$ 388.2 million).
According to JBS, the deal’s completion is pending approval from the Administrative Council for Economic Defence (CADE). JBS has acquired the company’s entire equity interest as a result of a debt restructuring and partnership reorganization process carried out by former partners and shareholders.
JBS is also acquiring the entire operations of the Primos conglomerate, the leading ham, bacon and smallgoods manufacturer in Australia and New Zealand. The deal, to be undertaken by subsidiary JBS Australia, is also pending approval from Australian regulators. “In line with our global strategy of added exposure to value-added products and brands, this deal with industry leader Primo is an excellent opportunity for us to branch out in Australia, considering our company’s high annual growth rates in foodstuffs, and the potential to increase Primo Smallgoods sales by way of exports,” said JBS chairman Wesley Batista.
Primo Smallgoods employs over 4,000 people and owns five manufacturing plants, seven distribution centres and 30 retail outlets. The company is expecting to post revenues of 1.6 billion Australian dollars (US$ 1.3 billion at current exchange rates) in its 2015 fiscal year, from July this year to June 2016.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
