Brazilian broiler firms
vie for top spot
A hostile takeover attempt spurred Perdigão into action
to overtake Sadia as the largest poultry and pig producer in Brazil.
Fabio Nunes
Twelve months after a hostile
takeover attempt, in which
Sadia tried to buy Perdigão,
Brazil’s top two poultry producers
reversed positions. Perdigão passed up
Sadia when it finalised the acquisition
of Eleva Alimentos in February.
Takeover bid spurs
Perdigão growth
The unsuccessful takeover
attempt in 2006 spurred Perdigão
to revise its business strategies and
enter an accelerated growth mode
with the goal of strengthening
the company and reducing its
vulnerability to future takeover bids.
To insure survival, the company
began aggressively pursuing
growth domestically and globally.
Focusing on diversifying its
business andspurred by a significant
investment programme, Perdigão
went shopping.
In the first half of 2007, the
company acquired Sino dos
Alpes for $4.8 million. A small,
specialty poultry meat and pork
products company located in
southern Brazil, the division was
a subsidiary of Grandi Salumifici
Italiani, a traditional Italian sausage
producer with more than 150 years
of experience and operations in 11
countries.
The same month, Perdigão
opened the Mineiros, Goiás State
complex, in Brazil’s Midwest, with
an annual capacity to process 81,000
tonnes of heavy poultry meat-based
products (turkey and the Chester
brand roaster).
European expansion
An established supplier of raw
materials and finished products
to Europe, Perdigão’s strategy of
entering the European Union’s retail
market with its own brands had not
been successful. Company executives
chose an alternative strategy of
diversification, investing in more
sophisticated products for higher
market segments.
After two years of negotiations,
the company finalised the purchase
of Plusfood, a Dutch meat
processing company, for € 30 million
($46.29 million). With plants
in The Netherlands, the United
Kingdom and Romania, Plusfood
has an annual income of about €75
million ($115.72 million), selling 20
thousand tonnes of hamburgers,
Operations like this complex in Rio Verde, Goiás, have helped turn Perdigão into Brazil’s largest poultry and pork producer.
