Brazil Food Co Weighs Cacophony of Offers

Brazil’s Sadia is studying a host of offers from private equity investors, a company official tells LatinFinance. The poultry processor is rumored in the local market to be seeking to raise a chunk of equity capital – up to BRL1.5bn – to help shore up its balance sheet following a BRL760m derivatives hit in September and a subsequent emergency bridge loan of BRL1.5bn. The company official denies Sadia has actively sought the funds and insists that any amount rumored for a potential deal is market conjecture. But the executive acknowledges Sadia is evaluating several proposals from private equity funds seeking a stake in Brazil’s leading poultry processor. “It’s like we have a flock of birds flying overhead,” says the executive in an attempt to describe what he calls a cacophony of overtures from a variety of investors.