Minerva, a Brazilian meat processor, continued its recent expansion by announcing this week that it plans to acquire a large Uruguayan beef processor from its Japanese owners.

Minerva has made a non binding offer for the assets of Breeders and Packers Uruguay (BPU), a subsidiary of NH Foods, a Japanese meat giant, which also has a large number of processing assets in Australia. The transaction needs to go through due diligence procedures and is expected to end at the end of 2022. BPU is in Ukraine

Coincidentally, JBS, a competitor, emphasized its global geographic and species diversification strategy in its third quarter financial performance report yesterday.

Last year, Minerva made its first investment in processing in Australia, purchased two Western Australian lamb processing facilities, and resumed operations. Last month, the company added a larger Australian LambCo to its Australian assets. Compared with other large Brazilian beef processors such as JBS and BRF, Minerva pays more attention to export sales rather than domestic market supply.

The company already operates a large meat trading company in Australia called Independent Meat Traders, which was acquired in 2016. IMTP sells an amazing amount of meat from its headquarters in Brisbane to Asia from Australia, New Zealand and other regions.