Sao Paulo | Reuters — Brazil’s federal police on Wednesday detained the chief executive of JBS SA, the world’s No. 1 meatpacker, saying he used insider information to avoid hefty losses related to a plea bargain he signed earlier this year. Wesley Batista, who has been at the helm of JBS since 2011, was detained […] Read more
Brazil police detain JBS CEO
JBS still seeks U.S. unit IPO
Sao Paulo | Reuters — JBS SA will proceed with plans to list a U.S.-based unit when market conditions allow, as the world’s No. 1 meatpacker wrestles with a shareholder revolt over the role of the controlling Batista family in a massive graft scandal. In a Tuesday conference call to discuss second-quarter results, CEO Wesley […] Read more
JBS taps BNP Paribas for Moy Park sale
Sao Paulo / Reuters – JBS SA, the world’s No. 2 food processor, has picked BNP Paribas SA to help sell Moy Park Ltd, which the company has put on the block, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said on Monday. JBS, whose controlling family has been ensnared in a corruption scandal, announced […] Read more
Dow to sell part of Brazil corn seed business
Reuters — Dow Chemical said it had agreed to sell a portion of its corn seed business in Brazil to a unit of China’s CITIC Ltd. for US$1.1 billion as it seeks to gain approval for its merger with DuPont from the country’s antitrust regulator. The divestiture includes seed processing plants and seed research centers, […] Read more
Canada, other countries raise meat inspection bar for Brazil
Winnipeg/Chicago | Reuters — Meat-importing countries from North America to Europe and Asia have tightened inspection standards for shipments from Brazil in a bid to protect consumers, following a probe into possible corruption involving inspectors. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) said on Wednesday that the tighter inspection standards it enacted in April have resulted […] Read more
Brazil farm minister heads to U.S. over fresh beef ban
Sao Paulo | Reuters — Brazil’s agriculture minister prepared to travel to the U.S. on Friday to fight a ban on imports of fresh Brazilian beef, which hit shares of local meatpackers and revived concerns about the image of the world’s largest beef exporter. “We will fight for this market!” said the minister, billionaire soy […] Read more
U.S. bans fresh Brazil beef imports over safety concerns
Chicago | Reuters — The United States halted imports of fresh Brazilian beef on Thursday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said, after a high percentage of shipments failed to pass safety checks. USDA had “recurring concerns about the safety of the products intended for the American market,” after increasing tests on Brazilian beef in March, […] Read more
Brazil blocks JBS deal, seeks asset freeze
Brasilia | Reuters — A Brazilian judge has blocked JBS SA’s planned sale of a South American unit while the attorney general’s office urged the company’s assets be frozen, in signs of fallout from a corruption probe involving the controlling shareholders of the world’s No. 1 meatpacker. Federal Judge Ricardo Leite blocked JBS’s US$300 million sale […] Read more
Brazil federal police raid JBS on insider trade probe
Sao Paulo | Reuters — Brazil’s federal police on Friday raided the offices of JBS SA to investigate the alleged use of insider information in financial market dealings, pushing shares in the embattled meatpacker to a two-week low. Police said there were indications that JBS and controlling shareholder FB Participacoes SA gained an unfair advantage […] Read more
JBS parent to pay record fine in leniency deal
Brasilia/Sao Paulo | Reuters — J+F Investimentos, controlling shareholder of the globe’s largest meatpacker JBS SA, agreed to pay a record-setting 10.3 billion real (C$4.3 billion) fine for its role in corruption scandals that threaten to oust President Michel Temer, Brazilian prosecutors said. The settlement means that Brazil’s three-year sweeping graft investigations have now led […] Read more
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