Brazilian meat processing giant, JBS, has announced that it is planning an initial public offering of its subsidiary JBS Foods International (JBSFI) in New York.
Earlier this year, the meat processor called off its plans to move its HQ to Dublin after a Brazilian bank with a stake in the company rejected the proposal.
The Board of Directors of the company yesterday approved the filing of a registration statement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission of JBS Foods International in connection with its plan to conduct an initial public offering (“IPO”) on the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) for its Class A common shares.
JBSFI has its official seat and registered office address in The Netherlands and shall house all of the international businesses of JBS plus Seara (another food company owned by JBS).
The company will continue to manage and control the Brazilian beef business and related activities including leather processing.
Wesley Mendonça Batista, the CEO of the company, will be the Chairman, a non-executive director, of JBS Foods International.
The Board of Directors of JBS Foods International will be composed of nine members, the majority of whom will be independent.
Gilberto Tomazoni, who has held senior executive positions at the company for the past four years, will be the CEO, while Russ Colaco will be CFO.
The company believes that this revised structure and proposed IPO reflects its global production platform, product portfolio and broad international customer base.
The company expects to complete the IPO during the first half of 2017. The timing, number of Class A common shares and price of the proposed offering have not yet been determined, a statement from JBS said.
JBSÂ already has a presence in Ireland through its subsidiary Moy Park which is the largest poultry meat producer in Northern Ireland and one of the 15 biggest food companies in the UK.
With 13 processing and manufacturing units in Northern Ireland, England, France, the Netherlands and the Republic of Ireland, the company has the capacity to process 240m birds annually, in addition to producing around 200,000t of food per year.
The company also has a huge presence in the US, it is responsible for 22% of the US beef supply. Some 70% of its revenue is said to come from its US operation.
