12/04/2007 10h15

Marfrig and Sadia consolidate themselves in food segment

Gazeta Mercantil - 12/04/2007

Yesterday, the Marfrig group and Sadia took a step towards their diversification and consolidation as food industries. Marfrig purchased Frigorífico Mabella Ltda, going into the pork segment. On its turn, Sadia purchased Big Foods Indústria de Produtos Alimentícios Ltda, a company of industrialized frozen foods, a sector it already operated in. "It is part of the diversification strategy: stop being slaughterhouses and becoming food industry", says AgraFNP's officer, José Vicente Ferraz. For Fabiano Tito Rosa, analyst of Scot Consultoria, diversification reduces the risks and expands the business area. Marfrig has not announced the value of the deal. Sadia purchased the company for R$ 100 million (US$ 56.2 million). In Safras & Mercado's analyst Paulo Molinari's evaluation, Sadia seeks, with the new acquisition, to support to the structure it will produce in Sorriso (MT). Sadia's Investor Relations Manager Welson Teixeira Júnior says the acquisition is lined up with the strategy of growth in industrialized products, which currently represents between 75% and 80% of the internal sales of the company with growth forecasts of 20% for next year. Big Foods Indústria de Produtos Alimentícios Ltda. was the largest company in the area of frozen foods, producing ready-to-eat sandwiches, lasagnas, pizzas, bread, snacks, pão de queijo (a sort of cheese bun) and confectionary products, in the city of Tatuí (SP). Teixeira Júnior points out that, with this acquisition, Sadia once again has a producing unit in São Paulo and gets closer to the consumer market: Big Foods Produtos Alimentícios Ltda, which also supplies other companies and will continue supplying them. The unit has capacity to produce 20 thousand tons a year, but it may be expanded. According to Teixeira Júnior, Big Foods expects to sell R$ 100 million (US$ 56.2 million) in 2007. In Brazil, Marfrig only operated in the beef segment - whereas in Uruguay and Chile it also operated in the lamb segment. Frigorífico Mabella has two pork slaughterhouses with total capacity for 4,200 animals a day in the states of Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul.