Brazil Beef Producer to Be World's Largest Meat Co

FILE - In this Dec. 2, 2008 file photo, a Pilgrim's Pride contract chicken raiser shows a...

FILE - In this Dec. 2, 2008 file photo, a Pilgrim's Pride contract chicken raiser shows a three-week-old chick at a farm just outside the city limits of Pittsburg, Texas. Brazilian beef producer JBS SA on Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2009 said it will buy a majority stake in Pilgrim's Pride for $800 million, in a deal that includes paying off Pilgrim's Pride's creditors in full and distributing new stock to current shareholders _ something unusual for a company in bankruptcy protection. (AP Photo/LM Otero, file)

(AP)

A Brazilian meat conglomerate could leap ahead of American meat producer Tyson Foods Inc. to become the world's largest meat company with two deals announced Wednesday that would expand its interests in beef, dairy and chicken.

One of the deals would take struggling Texas chicken producer Pilgrim's Pride Corp. out of bankruptcy court protection, while the other merges Brazilian beef producer JBS SA said with Bertin SA, one of Latin America's largest producers and exporters of milk products, beef and leather.

JBS cemented its status as an international meat conglomerate with its 2007 purchase of Greeley, Colo.-based Swift & Co. for $225 million. It said the newly minted JBS-Bertin will make it the world's largest meat producer.

With annual revenue forecast at $28.7 billion, JBS-Bertin will edge out Springdale, Ark.-based Tyson Foods Inc., which brought it just under $27 billion in its fiscal 2008.

JBS-Bertin will have operations in North and South America, Africa, Europe, Russia, China and Australia.

"We have already passed Tyson and we're just starting. We made it all the way here, and we are in a capacity to continue investing," JBS CEO Joesley Batista told reporters at a news conference in Sao Paulo, according to Brazil's Agencia Estado news agency.

Tyson spokesman Gary Mickelson said the deals may change the rankings in the meat business but "won't determine which company is the best.

"We remain focused on our own business strategies, which we believe will enable us to continue to provide the best protein products and service, both in the U.S. and around the world," Mickelson wrote about Tyson in an e-mail.

KeyBanc Capital Markets analyst Akshay Jagdale likened the new company's U.S. operation to a clone of Tyson and said diversifying with the two new deals was a smart tactic for surviving downturns that affect like chicken more than beef, which has higher profit margins.