Marfrig Global Foods has received proposals from five companies with an interest in purchasing its Keystone Foods subsidiary, according to a report.
Marfrig, headquartered in Brazil, has publicly stated that it intends to divest of its Keystone Foods subsidiary, which is headquartered in the Huntsville, Alabama, and is the tenth largest broiler company in the United States. Marfrig announced its intent to divest of the company at the time it announced it would acquire a majority share of National Beef Packing Company. That transaction closed on June 6. The reasoning Marfrig officials gave for wanting to sell Keystone Foods was so it could put more of its focus on its beef operations, and to leverage the National Beef transaction.
In May, Marfrig Global Foods, in a notice to the market on its webpage, stated that five companies had qualified to take part in a second phase of bidding for Keystone Foods, but it did not identify any of the five companies.
According to a June 27 report from Reuters, “one [anonymous] person with direct knowledge of the matter,” said that five binding proposals were delivered earlier in the week, and Macos Molina, controlling shareholder of Marfrig Global Foods, will make a decision based on those proposals soon.
The Reuters report identified Tyson Foods, Cargill, Cofco Corp., China Investment Corp. and George’s Inc., as the five potential bidders. However, that list differs from earlier reports that named the five potential bidders. The previous list, also reported by Reuters and attributed to an anonymous source, did not include George’s, but instead it listed Fosun International.
During Marfrig’s most recent quarterly earnings release, it reported that Keystone Foods achieved a net revenue of US$678.7 million for the first quarter of fiscal year 2018, up from the US$667.2 million it reported for the first quarter of fiscal year 2018.
