Brazil’s and Latin America’s second biggest beef producer is nearing the completion of its acquisition in the US. The firm, Mafrig Alimentos SA Monday said it will be closing the deal of the acquisition Tuesday, effectively becoming a supplier of restaurant chains such as McDonald’s Corp. the firm bought the American interest a while back, as it moves to consolidate and reinforce its international offering.

The acquisition was pending approvals from the European and American antitrust authorities, an impediment that it had already attained as the approvals were given. In the deal, the Brazilian firm will purchase Keystone from private equity firm Lindsay Goldberg LLC for a consideration of $1.26 billion that is inclusive of an undisclosed amount of debt.

The deal was agreed upon preliminarily in June, when the two announced they were in acquisition talks. With the acquisition, Mafrig now becomes the supplier of chicken nuggets, hamburgers and other meat products to McDonald’s, sandwich-shop chain Subway Restaurants, Yum! Brands Incorporated and Campbell Soup Company in 13 countries.

The countries span the globe, in places such as France, Australia and the US. The meatpacker has expanded through 38 acquisitions in the past three years, including the takeover of Cargill Inc.’s poultry and pork business in Brazil for $705.2 million. Earlier on, Mafrig’s Relations Director Florence said he hoped the transaction would conclude in the third quarter of this year.

Mafrig plans to finance the acquisition with the sale of 2.5 billion reais ($1.48 billion) of five-year bonds convertible into stock, it said.

Keystone Foods, LLC operates as a manufacturer and custom distributor of food products to butcher shops, grocery stores, and restaurants, businesses for which Mafrig takes over. It processes and markets various food products, including poultry and beef products, hamburgers, chicken nuggets, breaded chicken patties, cooked chicken wings and chicken breast filets, cooked chicken and beef fajita strips, cooked diced chicken, and various fish and pork products.

The company operates facilities in North America, Europe/the Middle East, Asia/Pacific, and Australia. Keystone Foods, LLC was founded in 1973 and is headquartered in West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania.

Marfrig, based in Sao Paulo sold 2.5 billion reais ($1.4 billion) of five-year bonds convertible into stock to finance the acquisition of Keystone from private equity firm Lindsay Goldberg LCC, according to a regulatory filing published in June. Marfrig was also supposed to issue American depositary receipts.

12 Oct 2010.