Meatpacking giant JBS has agreed to sell Five Rivers Cattle Feeding, the world’s largest feedlot operation, to New York-based Pinnacle Asset Management. Five Rivers feeds 900,000 head in multiple states. This is the second major feedlot sale in a year, and means that none of the three biggest meatpackers — JBS, Tyson, and Cargill — will own feedlots, said Drovers Cattlenetwork.
JBS, which is based in Brazil, put the feeding operation on the block last June as part of a global divestment program. The plan was to raise $1.8 billion, partly to pay a fine levied by Brazilian courts and partly to help the company focus on food and value-added products. The sale needs the approval of U.S. regulators.
Five Rivers operates 11 feedlots in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas, and has a long-term agreement to supply cattle to JBS processing plants. “The feeding operation traces its roots back to the 1920s with the Monfort family,” said Drovers Cattlenetwork. JBS previously sold Five Rivers Cattle Feeding in Canada, with a 75,000-head feedlot, for nearly $40 million. Last April, Cargill sold its final two feedlots to Green Plains Inc.