Brazil & Southern Cone - October 2025

With the approval of Marfrig’s merger with fellow meatpacker BRF, Brazil now has two players among the world’s top five meat processing giants. On 5 September Brazil’s antitrust regulator (Cade) authorised the merger that had been first announced in May without any restrictions. The newly created company, MBRF, which is expected to have annual revenues of around R$152bn (US$28.5bn), began trading on the B3 stock exchange in São Paulo on 23 September.  

Back in 2019, Marfrig and BRF had discussed a merger but abandoned the talks over disagreements on governance. Marfrig then began acquiring BRF shares until it gained control of more than 50%, but what followed was a merger rather than an acquisition. While Marfrig has gained the shares of BRF it had not previously owned, BRF shareholders also gained Marfrig shares. Following the share swap, the companies became one entity, MBRF. With Marfrig specialising more in beef and BRF focused mostly on poultry and pork meat, the merger is seen as complementary and is expected to generate synergies of around R$1bn per year. Redundant sales, distribution, and logistics operations are to generate the bulk of the savings, with potential tax benefits providing an additional boost to the bottom line.

While MBRF is still less than half the size of the global industry leader, the Brazilian meatpacker JBS, it has now equalled or surpassed the likes of China’s WH Group and US multinational Cargill and is encroaching on the world’s second largest meat processing company, US producer Tyson Foods. The food brands Sadia and Perdigão, which were both subsidiaries of BRF, are household names in Brazil, having supplied generations throughout the country with a range of products from bacon to frozen lasagne. Other notable subsidiaries in MBRF’s portfolio include Plusfood from the Netherlands, owned by Perdigão, and US meat brand National Beef, owned by Marfrig.  

As the world’s largest beef exporting country, it may be no surprise that Brazil boasts two of the largest companies in the industry, but it is also not a given. The country is the world’s largest exporter of coffee and the second largest of iron ore, but its steel companies are dwarfed by global competitors and there is not really a globally known Brazilian coffee brand.

The idea of creating competitive Brazilian multinationals through generous financial support surged during the first two terms of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (2003-2011) with his policy of ‘Campeões Nacionais’ (National Champions). Like JBS, Marfrig and BRF had received government aid, and the state development bank (BNDES) as well as the pension funds of state-run companies Petrobras (Petros) and Banco do Brasil (Previ) until recently still had significant stakes. Previ sold its stake in BRF in July this year.

Concerns over potential conflict of interest

As part of its objective to achieve food security for Saudi Arabia and seek returns in emerging companies, a subsidiary of the Public Investment Fund (PIF) of Saudi Arabia, Salic, owned a stake in BRF as well as in rival meatpacker Minerva. Cade requested more information from Salic, flagging up a potential conflict of interest due to its stake in the competitors. To facilitate Marfrig’s merger with BRF, Salic sold its 11% direct stake in BRF and then purchased derivatives equivalent to the shares it sold, allowing the company to maintain an economic interest in MBRF.