Marfrig Global Foods declined to elaborate on its strategy for investing in BRF when asked by a pair of analysts during Marfrig’s first quarter earnings call on March 9.
Ben Theurer of Barclays and Carlos Laboy of HSBC, both inquired about BRF’s operating and capital strategy concerning Marfrig’s decision to acquire a significant stake in BRF. Marfrig owns a 33.25% stake in BRF. It initially purchased 24.23% of the shares in May 2021, then later furthered that investment.
In February, Marfrig announced its intent to nominate a slate to serve on the BRF board of directors. That slate will be voted upon during BRF’s annual meeting on March 28.
Marfrig Global Foods Investor Relations Director Eduardo Puzziello said further information would not be released until after that meeting.
“In terms of our capital structure concerning BRF, the company is not allowed to disclose any information before the board election, so we’re not allowed to disclose anything about that before the 28th, sorry,” Puzziello said.
Marfrig Global Foods, which primarily operates in the beef sector, while BRF has a major presence in the poultry and pork industries. Both companies are headquartered in Brazil.
Marfrig’s investment in BRF enables the company to again have a presence in the poultry industry. In November 2018, Marfrig sold its Keystone Foods subsidiary, then the tenth largest poultry company in the United States, to Tyson Foods, stating that it was doing so to put more emphasis on its beef operations and to leverage its purchase of the majority stake in the U.S.-based National Beef Packing Co.
BRF, according to the WATTPoultry.com Top Companies Database, is the second largest poultry producer in the world, having slaughtered 2.19 billion broilers during the past year. Formerly known as Brasil Foods, BRF was created by the association between Sadia and Perdigao.
