Brazilian Meatpacker JBS to Pursue U.S. Listing
Meat giant plans to proceed with long-discussed listing on New York Stock Exchange by the end of 2023 JBS began as a family-owned slaughterhouse. Photo: Aloisio Mauricio/ZUMA Press By Patrick Thomas Updated July 12, 2023 9:16 am ET The world’s largest meatpacker, Brazil’s JBS, said it plans to restart its yearslong efforts to list its shares publicly in the U.S. Through a parent company based in the Netherlands called JBS NV, the company said Wednesday it intends to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange and the São Paulo Stock Exchange using Brazilian Depository Receipts by the end of 2023, though it said the timing could vary. The BDRs will be backed by Class A shares listed on the NYSE. JBS executives have said for years that they intended to list the company, or parts o
JBS began as a family-owned slaughterhouse.
Photo: Aloisio Mauricio/ZUMA Press
The world’s largest meatpacker, Brazil’s JBS, said it plans to restart its yearslong efforts to list its shares publicly in the U.S.
Through a parent company based in the Netherlands called JBS NV, the company said Wednesday it intends to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange and the São Paulo Stock Exchange using Brazilian Depository Receipts by the end of 2023, though it said the timing could vary. The BDRs will be backed by Class A shares listed on the NYSE.
JBS executives have said for years that they intended to list the company, or parts of it, in the U.S., but have yet to do so. JBS went public on the São Paulo Stock Exchange in Brazil in 2007.
The majority of the company’s $77 billion in annual revenue in 2022 came from JBS’ North American beef business, U.S. pork unit and its majority stake in the second-largest American chicken company, Pilgrim’s Pride. JBS has more than 260,000 employees in about 190 countries and includes brands such as Seara, Swift, Pilgrim’s Pride, Moy Park, Primo and Just Bare.
JBS, which began as a family-owned slaughterhouse in the Brazilian countryside, has grown to be one of the largest meat companies in the U.S. over the past two decades. It has invested billions of dollars in the U.S. market, including its acquisition of Swift and buying the majority of Pilgrim’s Pride. It is one of four meatpacking companies that process roughly 85% of U.S. beef production.
“The dual listing strategy will accelerate our capacity for diversification and growth into more branded and value-added food products, reduce our cost of capital and generate greater returns for shareholders,” said Guilherme Cavalcanti, JBS global chief financial officer.
JBS said it would offer a $454 million dividend to investors to support its plan, and shareholders will vote on the listing proposal at a not-yet-scheduled general meeting.
A listing in the U.S. would come as American meatpackers are struggling to make money on all three major meat categories—chicken, beef and pork.
In April, JBS named Wesley Batista Filho, son of Wesley Batista,
the former CEO and one of the two brothers who control the company, as the new chief executive of its U.S. division. Batista Filho began his career at JBS in 2011 and has held a number of roles, including president of JBS Canada, CEO of Brazilian food processing company Seara and CEO of JBS Brazil. He took over as global president of operations in November.JBS’ past U.S. IPO efforts were interrupted by market conditions following the Covid-19 pandemic, executives have said. The company has also dealt with a corporate corruption scandal in Brazil.
Brazil’s J&F Investimentos, the controlling shareholder of JBS run by the Batista family, admitted in 2017 to paying about $150 million in bribes to Brazilian politicians to secure cheap government funding, fueling one of the most ambitious global acquisition sprees in Brazilian corporate history.
The affair landed the firm’s two major controllers, the billionaire brothers Joesley and Wesley Batista, in jail for several months. J&F in 2020 settled the case with U.S. authorities for $128 million and said the agreement was important to improving its corporate governance efforts.
Brazilian market regulator CVM acquitted the brothers of related insider-trading charges in May of this year.
Write to Patrick Thomas at [email protected]
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