The companies will need to meet additional conditions to prevent an anti-competitive market before obtaining final approval.
Brazilian meat producers Minerva Foods and Marfrig Global Foods have received conditional approval from Brazil’s competition authority for Minerva to acquire a number of Marfrig’s assets – a decision that was first announced a year ago.
The 7.5 billion reais (USD1.3 billion) asset deal includes one distribution center and 11 plants in Brazil, one in Argentina, and one in Chile.
The deal originally included three plants in Uruguay, but the purchase was blocked in May by Uruguay’s antitrust regulator, la Comisión de Promoción y Defensa de la Competencia, or Coprodec.
While Brazil’s CADE has approved the acquisition – which includes the facilities in Argentina and Chile – the purchase cannot be finalized until additional conditions that prevent an antiсompetitive market are met.
When asked by Just Food what those conditions entailed, Minerva said :
“ (...) in addition to the final and unappealable decision of CADE, the closing of the transaction is also subject to the verification of the other conditions precedent provided for in the agreement, which regulates the acquisition of assets in Brazil, Argentina and Chile.”
Marfrig is the largest shareholder in Brazil-based poultry group BRF, which also controls US beef producer National Beef.
In 2022, Minerva acquired Uruguayan peer Breeders and Packers Uruguay from Japan’s Nippon Ham Foods Group. In a joint venture with Salic in Saudi Arabia, the two parties also struck a deal for Australian Lamb Company the same year.
Source: Just Food
