Marfrig buys Seara for $900 million dollars

Brazil’s Marfrig Alimentos bought Seara Alimentos for $900 million dollars, of which $706 million is in cash and $193.8 million is in debt purchases, according to Folha de São Paulo.

The financing for the acquisition may involve a stock offering by Marfrig. It is expected that the transaction will be completed in the fourth quarter.

Marfrig will be purchasing, among other things, seven poultry processing plants, two pork processing/further processing plants and a prívate port terminal.  

Rumors had circulated in the Brazilian press that Marfrig was interested in buying not only Seara, but also Doux Frangosul. However, Doux Frangosul issued a statement today saying that it is not for sale. Recently, Marfrig bought Doux Frangosul’s turkey operations.

Marfrig is the fifth largest chicken producer in Brazil, processing around 235 million birds a year. Seara, which is owned by Cargill in the U.S., is currently the third largest chicken producer in the country producing around 333 million birds a year.

When all the dust settles from ongoing transactions, Brasil Foods (which combines Perdigão and Sadia) will be the largest poultry and pig producer in Brazil and Marfrig will be second.