Perdigão, a Brazilian food company which operates in the meats sector, concluded negotiations for purchasing Sino dos Alpes Alimentos, a subsidiary of leading Italian cold meats manufacturer group Grandi Salumifici Italiani (GSI). The operation will cost Perdigão US$ 4 million (8.5 million reais).
Sino dos Alpes is based in the city of Bom Retiro do Sul, in the southernmost Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, where it manufactures pork and chicken meat products, such as meat sausage, ham, spiced ham, pâté, sliced meats and mortadella.
The company was established in 1999 through a partnership between GSI and the Languiru cooperative, from Rio Grande do Sul. Each owned half of the business. In 2002, the Italian group bought the cooperative out and took over 100% of operations.
Perdigão and GSI also signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at exchanging technology for development and manufacturing of meat-based foods in Italy and Brazil, and reciprocal commercialization of products.
Sino dos Alpes has a built area of 14,000 square meters (150,000 square feet) and employs 191 people. Currently, the factory is operating with idle capacity. Since Perdigão is also a producer of raw material, it should optimize the processing capacity of the unit, which at first will be completely occupied, and then enlarged at a later phase.
Grandi Salumifici Italiani has 150-year experience in production of cold meats. In addition to Italy, where it operates 11 units, the group owns a factory in Austria and six factories in China. It also has commercial representations in Germany, France, Belgium, Croatia, Greece and Scandinavia. In 2005, the company’s revenue was US$ 626.1 million.
The purchase will increase the operations of Perdigão in Rio Grande do Sul. The company already has important exporting units in the state, in the cities of Maraú and Serafina Corrêa, in addition to animal food factories, in Gaurama and Maraú, and grain purchase branches, in Maraú, Serafina Corrêa, and Casca.
Last year, Perdigão invested approximately US$ 12.9 million in its units in Rio Grande do Sul, where it employs more than 7,800 people and has partnerships with 1,652 integrated poultry and pork producers. In the field of transports, through contracts with 111 companies, Perdigão generates another 300 indirect jobs.
One of Latin America’s foremost food companies, Perdigão ranks among the main employers in Brazil, with approximately 40,000 employees. This year, the company should have US$ 2.9 billion in profit. Late last year, the company announced an expected 10% increase in meat sales for 2007.
Anba
