JBS SA officially assumed ownership of Brazilian poultry and pork processor Seara Brasil and leather company Zenda on September 30. The two business units were purchased from Marfrig, a rival company of JBS, also headquartered in Brazil.
All of the conditions for the closing of the deal have been met, including consent from antitrust agencies in Brazil and Europe, but the companies had to complete a 15-day waiting period before the transaction could be finalized.
The two business units were purchased at a price of BRL5.85 billion. With the transaction, nearly all of Marfrig's debt has been eliminated, and Marfrig intends to strengthen its global strategic redirection to the food service segment. JBS has expanded its portfolio of processed and branded meat products, and plans to capture synergies from the businesses it has acquired.
With the newly purchased facilities, JBS will process 12 million birds, 70,000 hogs, 100,000 hides and 5,000 tons of processed foods per day globally, with a total of 185,000 employees worldwide.
