RIO DE JANEIRO – Brazilian food giant BRF, the world’s biggest poultry exporter, said in securities filings that it planned to invest around $496 million to acquire operations in Argentina, Thailand and Britain.
The company said in one filing late Tuesday that it had signed a binding offer for the acquisition of a full stake in Eclipse Holding Cooperatief, a Dutch company that controls Campo Austral, a group of firms with pork and cold-cuts operations in Argentina.
BRF said the offer was based on an enterprise value of $85 million.
BRF also said its international subsidiary BRF GmbH had entered into an agreement to acquire Golden Foods Siam, one of Thailand’s leading poultry producers and a company with a presence in 15 countries, from Malaysian private equity firm Navis Capital Partners for $360 million.
The acquisition will enable BRF to enter the Thai market for the first time, the Itajai, Brazil-based company said.
Finally, the Brazilian group signed a binding memorandum of understanding to acquire the entire issued share capital of Universal Meats, a food distributor in Britain focused on food service, for 34 million pounds (around $51 million).
BRF was created in 2009 from the merger of Sadia and Perdigao, two of Brazil’s largest poultry and pork producers.