JBS Swift Goes On a Buying Spree. JBS, the Brazilian company, which bought the number three beef packer Swift last year, shocked the beef industry by adding to its portfolio. They first announced the purchase of National Beef. National Beef, the fourth largest US beef packer, was bought for $560 million. The purchase will be made with $465 million in cash and $95 million in stock. National Beef, well known for its higher grading premium programs, is considered the jewel of the packing industry. They run their plants closer to capacity as they draw from member owned cattle. Additionally the cattle to beef price spreads are better with higher valued products. JBS then turned around and also bought Smithfield Foods beef unit. Smithfield is the nations fifth largest beef packer. They are unique in that they also have feedlots that were once owned by Swift. The feedlot unit, called Five Rivers Ranch Cattle Feeding, is a 50/50 joint operation with ContiGroup Companies (CGC). The feedlot operation has capacity for 811,000 head and is the largest in the US. The interesting thing here is Swift will buy the entire feedlot unit (even those owned by CGC). The purchase price is $560 million in cash. The third aspect of the deal is they will buy the largest Australian beef firm, Tasman Group, for $148 million in cash as well. The US purchases will make JBS Swift the largest US beef processor and feedlot owner. All this is subject to Justice Department approval first. In a five to six year outlook the deal makes sense but for the one to two year outlook, who would think of fronting them this almost all-cash deal?
Beef Packing Financials: Here is some interesting financial data. National Beef and Smithfield's Beef unit sold for the same price. If you add calendar year profits for National Beef's Core Beef unit in 2006 and 2007 together, they brought in $106 million in profits. In the same calendar 2006 and 2007 noted in the National Beef section Smithfield's Beef unit brought in $32 million in profits. You may find it interesting that the former number one packer, Tyson, posted $282 million losses in their Beef unit for the same period!
The Top Packers: JBS Swift would have a total kill capacity of 42,500 head per day after the purchase is complete. The number two packer in the nation is Cargill's Excel Meats at 29,000 head. Since stopping the kill line at Emporia, Kansas Tyson Foods is now number three with 28,300 head per day capacity.
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