March 4, 2020

Prima Foods files US$220 million IPO

The move by the Brazilian meatpacker marks another listed company owned by the Barista family, which also has a controlling stake in JBS SA, reported Reuters.

According to the filing, Jose Batista Junior, Prima Foods owner will sell his shares in the company. His siblings Wesley Batista and Joesley Batista partly owned meatpacker JBS SA.

Two sources said the share offering will hit 1 billion BRL (~US$222 million; 1 BRL = US$0.22).

Prima Foods slaughters 2,600 head of cattle daily and in located in Minas Gerais, Goias and Mato Grosso do Sul states in Brazil.

In 2019, Prima Foods achieved 2 billion BRL (~US$445.35 million) in revenue with a net income of 241.2 million BRL (~US$53 million). Close to 65% of its sales last year were attributed to exports, mostly to China.
 

Banco BTG Pactual SA, Banco Bradesco BBI and Banco Santander Brasil are the investment banking units hired by Prima Foods to facilitate the IPO.

The other listed meatpackers in Brazil are JBS SA, Marfig Global Foods SA and Minerva SA.

The Jose Batista-owned JBJ Agropecuaria, which is the controlling shareholder of Prima Foods, is currently a CADE (Brazil antitrust watchdog) decision that Batista was not allowed to acquire Prima. Batista is currently contesting the decision in civil courts. The offering prospectus has disclosed this risk.

-      Reuters