The agreement to acquire 16 plants in Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Chile will boost Minerva’s cattle slaughtering capacity by 44%.
Brazil's Minerva Foods, one of the largest meat suppliers in South America, has agreed with rival Marfrig Global Foods to acquire 16 slaughtering plants and a distribution center for 7.5 billion Brazilian reais ($1.54 billion).
Of the acquired infrastructure facilities, 11 are located in Brazil (10 slaughterhouses and a distribution center), three in Uruguay and one each in Argentina and Chile.
After the acquisition, Minerva will have 40 beef cattle slaughter and deboning plants: 21 units in Brazil, five in Paraguay, six in Argentina, six in Uruguay, and two in Colombia. Its lamb business will have five plants – four plants in Australia and the new site in Chile.
The deal will also allow Minerva to increase its processing capacity by nearly 44% — to 42,439,000 head of cattle per day from the current 29,540,000 — and strengthen the company's leadership in the Latin American beef market, Minerva said in a press release.
Under the agreement, the new owner will pay Marfrig Global Foods R$1.5 billion upon signing the contract and another R$6 billion upon completion of the deal.
Marfrig, in turn, will focus the operations of the remaining owned businesses on higher value-added products, the company said.
