Pilgrim’s Pride purchases Ireland’s Moy Park poultry processor in $1.3 billion deal
By Canadian Packaging staff
Food Safety General Eldorado Brasil Celulose SA Grupo Lala SAB J&F Investimentos SA JBS SA Moy Park Paper Excellence NV Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation Vigor Alimentos SAPurchased from embattled JBS who are involved in a food safety scandal, Pilgrim’s is actually majority-owned by JBS.
Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation has purchased chicken processor Moy Park, one Northern Ireland’s largest companies for US$ 1.3-billion, acquiring it from Brazilian owner JBS SA, the world’s largest meat packer.
Back in 2015, JBS had purchased Moy Park for US$1.5 billion. JBS also owns some 79 percent of Pilgrim’s Pride’s shares, selling Moy Park back to its own subsidiary.
The current deal provides Pilgrim’s Pride with a big foothold in Europe with access to some 800 U.K. farmers. Pilgrim’s Pride is the second-largest poultry producer in the U.S.
With Moy Park employing approximately 6.300 people across Northern Ireland, it processes 5.7 million poultry per week at its 13 processing facilities across the U.K., Ireland, France and the Netherlands.
While Pilgrim’s Pride says it expects Moy Park to bring in US$2-billion in revenue annually, the sale of the business was prompted by major criminal allegations of a food safety scandal at JBS who needed to raise funds by selling assets.
JBS, owned by Josely and Wesley Batista, confessed to graft and other illegalities that had allowed them to previously acquire many companies across Latin America, the U.S., and more.
Along with Moy Park, JBS via its J&F Investimentos SA holding company has over the past month sold assets: dairy producer Vigor Alimentos SA to Grupo Lala SAB of Mexico for US$1.86 billion; and pulp business Eldorado Brasil Celulose SA to Paper Excellence NV for US$4.86 billion.
JBS SA owner Josely Batista and J&F Investimentos executive Ricard Saud turned themselves over to police custody this past weekend after a Brazil Supreme Court order.
Image purchased via www.fotolia.com.
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