Brazil's Marfrig, Minerva unaware of decision blocking deal in Uruguay
Adds Santander and Goldman Sachs analyst comments, share moves
By Ana Mano
SAO PAULO, May 17 (Reuters) -Brazilian meatpacker Marfrig MRFG3.SA said on Friday that it has not been notified of a decision reported in the media that its deal to sell some plants to rival Minerva BEEF3.SA has been blocked by Uruguayan antitrust authorities.
Buyer Minerva issued a nearly identical statement on the matter. Uruguay's economy ministry told Reuters on Friday the country's antitrust authority has not made an official decision and was not commenting at this time.
Marfrig agreed in August to sell 16 slaughtering plants to Minerva for 7.5 billion reais ($1.47 billion), in a deal that would significantly change its profile in South America.
The sale of assets is split into two separate transactions, including a price tag of 1.5 billion reais for the plants in Uruguay and 6 billion reais for those in the other countries, Santander analysts said.
"Even if the deal in Uruguay is not approved, we expect no impact on similar transactions in Argentina, Brazil, and Chile," Santander wrote, adding that conclusion of the whole transaction is conditioned on approval in Brazil.
The units being divested are located in Chile, Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. Most process cattle while one in Chile slaughters lambs.
If the deal goes through as proposed by the firms, Marfrig would retain only its larger-scale industrial facilities in South America in a bid to prioritize production of processed meat products. Minerva would continue to focus on beef.
Goldman Sachs said three of the 16 plants targeted by Minerva are based in Uruguay, accounting for 16% of the total beef slaughtering capacity it is seeking to acquire.
Goldman said it expected a negative share reaction for the buyer but told clients it needs more information to gauge the full impact of the deal potentially falling through in Uruguay.
Marfrig also controls Brazil-based poultry and pork processor BRF BRFS3.SA, and National Beef NBEEF.UL in the United States.
Shares in Marfrig rose as much as 3.4% in Sao Paulo before paring some gains to trade up 0.9%. Minerva shares were up 2.2% in morning trading but reversed course in early afternoon, slipping 0.5%.
($1 = 5.1118 reais)
Reporting by Ana Mano in Sao Paulo; additional reporting by Lucinda Elliott in Montevideo; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Bill Berkrot
免責聲明: XM Group提供線上交易平台的登入和執行服務，允許個人查看和/或使用網站所提供的內容，但不進行任何更改或擴展其服務和訪問權限，並受以下條款與條例約束：（i）條款與條例；（ii）風險提示；（iii）完全免責聲明。網站內部所提供的所有資訊，僅限於一般資訊用途。請注意，我們所有的線上交易平台內容並不構成，也不被視為進入金融市場交易的邀約或邀請 。金融市場交易會對您的投資帶來重大風險。
所有缐上交易平台所發佈的資料，僅適用於教育/資訊類用途，不包含也不應被視爲適用於金融、投資稅或交易相關諮詢和建議，或是交易價格紀錄，或是任何金融商品或非應邀途徑的金融相關優惠的交易邀約或邀請。
本網站的所有XM和第三方所提供的内容，包括意見、新聞、研究、分析、價格其他資訊和第三方網站鏈接，皆爲‘按原狀’，並作爲一般市場評論所提供，而非投資建議。請理解和接受，所有被歸類為投資研究範圍的相關内容，並非爲了促進投資研究獨立性，而根據法律要求所編寫，而是被視爲符合營銷傳播相關法律與法規所編寫的内容。請確保您已詳讀並完全理解我們的非獨立投資研究提示和風險提示資訊，相關詳情請點擊 這裡查看。
