Brazil's antitrust authority approves Marfrig-BRF deal (updated)

BRF SA

05/09/2025 21:02

Adds details from the merger, context from paragraph 2

SAO PAULO, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Brazilian antitrust authority CADE has approved a merger deal between beef producer Marfrig MRFG3.SA and food processor BRF BRF3.SA, the companies said in a joint securities filing on Friday.

The transaction was approved without restrictions because it does not raise any competition concerns, CADE said in a press release.

"The joint market share of companies in markets with horizontal overlap, where both offer similar and competing products, is less than 20%," CADE said.

In May, the companies announced a plan for Marfrig - already the holder of a controlling stake in BRF - to purchase the remaining shares of BRF in a share-swap deal. Under the deal, each BRF share will be exchanged for 0.8521 Marfrig shares.

The combination of Marfrig and BRF creates a new company called MBRF, another global food producer and exporter based in Brazil and with factories in multiple locations, including the United States, the Middle East and China.

Before CADE's latest decision, rival food company Minerva BEEF3.SA requested authority to scrutinize the deal more closely because of a
minority shareholder
 it and BRF had in common.

SALIC International Investment Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Saudi Agricultural and Livestock Investment Company, earlier this week announced it
had changed
 its structure of investment in BRF.

 (Reporting by Isabel Teles; Editing by Leslie Adler and Marguerita Choy)

 ((Isabel.Teles@thomsonreuters.com;))