moy park

Brazilian meat giant JBS plans to use Moy Park as a launch pad into Europe and a platform to grow its business with UK retailers.

JBS signed a deal to acquire 100% of Northern Irish poultry producer Moy Park from fellow Brazilian food group Marfrig for $1.5bn (£960m) this week.

JBS CEO Wesley Batista revealed to analysts that Moy Park would form the bedrock of newly created division JBS Europe, from which the meat supplier hopes to build a wider business in the EU.

The group exports about $1bn of meat products into the EU including beef and lamb from Australia, beef and poultry from South America and pork from the US.

Jeremiah O’Callaghan, of the JBS investor relations office, said the deal gave it the opportunity to grow its European exports, notably into UK supermarkets, piggybacking on Moy Park’s existing operations.

“We see the opportunity to develop strong relationships downstream with the customers Moy Park already services, those big retailers in the UK particularly, and foodservice players.”

He said JBS had recently focused on developing its range of branded and ready-to-eat products in South American and Australia.

“[Moy Park] is a great opportunity to get into Europe and especially the UK,” said Batista. He added that, although no other European acquisitions were on the immediate horizon, “Moy Park definitely will be a platform for further expansion in the European market going forward”.

JBS expects to boost Moy Pork’s operating margins from 7.5% to 10% via $50m of synergies that can be generated in the first year of its ownership. It has identified significant savings for Moy Park through the ability of JBS to competitively source raw materials, such as grain, and its global scale and risk management capabilities.