By Ana Mano and Roberto Samora
SAO PAULO (Reuters) – JBS SA, the world’s largest meatpacker, on Wednesday proposed listing its shares in New York, in addition to Sao Paulo, offering a 2.2 billion-reais ($454 million) dividend to coax investors into backing the longstanding plan.
The one-time dividend of 1 real per share is conditional on the dual listing being approved, it said in a filing.
The proposed structure will use a Netherlands-based vehicle called JBS NV and have Class A shares with one voting right and Class B shares with 10 votes, JBS said.
A dual listing gives JBS a chance to broaden its investor base and an opportunity to raise more capital. Management has also repeatedly made the case that it would reduce its cost of capital and help its shares trade at multiples closer to peers such as Tyson Foods and Pilgrim’s Pride, which it controls.
JBS was the first Brazilian meat packer to go public in 2007, the year in which it also embarked on a U.S. acquisition spree starting with the purchase of Swift.
The U.S. listing has been in the works for the better part of a decade, but was postponed in part due to a 2017 corporate corruption scandal in Brazil and then again amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
JBS gets the lion’s share of its revenue from the U.S. market, where it processes beef, poultry and pork products for domestic consumption and export.
In recent years tech startups have led a trend of Brazilian companies seeking dual listings. SoftBank-backed Banco Inter, web services provider Locaweb, retailer Americanas and cosmetics maker Natura are among the companies that have announced such moves.
(Reporting by Ana Mano and Roberto Samora; editing by Jason Neely and Sharon Singleton)
