The world’s largest meat-processing enterprise in sales volumes, São Paulo, Brazil-based JBS, is expected to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange on June 12.
The move, a dual listing in the US and Brazil, aims to tap into greater US dollar flows and increased liquidity. Long term, the company hopes to overtake US-based Tyson Foods in market cap, consolidating as the sole global leader in the sector.
Currently, JBS is valued at roughly $16 billion, with $77.2 billion in revenue as of full-year 2024, compared to a $19.8 billion market cap for Tyson Foods on $53.3 billion in revenue.
But despite the seemingly positive outcome for JBS’ shareholders, the Pilgrim’s Pride parent company’s dual listing remains a contentious topic both internally and externally.
Recently, US Senator Elizabeth Warren raised concerns that JBS’s $5 million donation to the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee helped get the dual listing approved.
The concerns come on the back of a long history of questionable practices by Joesley and Wesley Batista, the founders and largest shareholders of the company. Back in 2017, the brothers—estimated to be worth roughly $5 billion each—faced six months of incarceration in their home country, Brazil, on bribery charges.
Mighty Earth CEO Glenn Hurowitz also adds that the JBS’ listing raises sustainabilty concerns. “Listing on the NYSE is meant to be a signal to investors that a company is serious about transparency, but JBS has shown its only playbook is hiding the true scale of its destruction, climate emissions, and human rights abuses.”
The dual listing also faced shareholder pushback, passing with just 52% of votes, with claims the plan introduces a dual-class structure that boosts the Batista brothers’ voting power to nearly 85%, up from about 48%. “Investors [ultimately] chose to focus on the stock’s upside potential rather than on governance concerns,” said Igor Guedes, an analyst at Genial Investimentos.
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