With new CEO, Bertin gets ready to go public
Valor Econômico - 07/11/2008
Without defining a term to wind up the main task he has to accomplish at Bertin S.A, executive João Pinheiro Nogueira Batista has just taken the position of CEO of the company. Batista, who was vice-president of Suzano Holding until last September, has the mission of carrying out the initial public offer of Bertin S.A., "enhancing" the corporate governance of the company and "introducing a new management model" in the company. In an interview to Valor, Batista - markedly a neophyte to bovine meat - said his task is "to make the process [of going public] effectively take place". Bertin S.A. - which works in the sectors of foods (bovine meat and dairy products), pet products, leather and hygiene and cleaning - was founded in the beginning of this year within a process of corporate restructuring started by the Bertin group in 2007. The company, whose revenue last year amounted to R$ 6.4 billion (US$ 3.32 billion), is responsible for 80% of the income of the Bertin Group, which is controlled by Heber Participações. The family has other holdings - one related to infrastructure and sanitation, another to energy, another to hotel and construction and one holding which operates on the distribution of hygiene and cleaning products. At the same time it started the process of corporate restructuring, the group also started making improvements in its governance almost two years ago. The flotation of shares, which was being promised for the first half of this year, also ended up being postponed after an allocation of funds of R$ 1 billion (US$ 625 million) from the BNDESPar to Bertin S.A., which gave the bank a 13.2% interest in the capital of the company. The injection of resources from the BNDESPar to finance the growth of Bertin S.A has not yet finished. There is another R$ 1.5 billion (US$ 937.5 million) that may increase the interest of the state-owned bank to 27.5%. According to Batista, the release of the rest of the funds is tied to a company program of future investments. He still does not say, however, which would these investments be and which the operating goals of his management are. With nearly 25,500 thousand employees, Bertin S.A has 39 units in Brazil and units in Paraguay, Uruguay and China.