Marfrig Global Foods has completed the acquisition of the majority stake of National Beef Packing Company.
The Brazil-based company on June 6 announced that it had received the authorizations needed for completion of the acquisition.
With the deal, Marfrig Global Foods now holds a 51 percent stake in National Beef, the fourth largest beef company in the United States. The completion of the transaction also means that Marfrig becomes the world’s second largest beef processor in terms of production capacity.
Marfrig Global Foods on April 9 announced its intent to acquire the 51 percent stake in National Beef, which is headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri.
Keystone Foods sale still planned
At the same time it announced its planned acquisition of National Beef, Marfrig also revealed that it intended to divest of Keystone Foods, the tenth largest broiler company in the United States, which is headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama.
The company stated it was doing so to leverage the National Beef acquisition and to also place its primary focus on beef operations.
While announcing its financial results from the first quarter of fiscal year 2018 on May 14, Marfrig reiterated its plans to sell Keystone Foods. Nine days after that, Marfrig posted a notice to the market on its website, which stated that it had entered the second phase of bidding for Keystone Foods, and that five companies have qualified to take part in that phase.
None of those five companies were identified, but Marfrig stated in the notice that it would keep its shareholders and the market in general “adequately informed on the evolution of this process.”
The notice was signed by José Eduardo de Oliveira Miron, Marfrig’s chief financial and investor relations officer.
In 2017, Keystone Foods, according to the WATTAgNet Top Poultry Companies Database, processed 23.8 million pounds of ready-to-cook chicken on a weekly basis.
