Debt Investors Are the Biggest Winners From Brazil Beef Boom

Expanding sales in past decade have gone to service debt
Bond returns are crushing shares for Minerva, Marfrig, JBS

Cattle owned by Brazilian beef producer Minerva SA graze on a ranch operated by Cia Agropecuaria Monte Alegre (CMA) in Barretos, Brazil, on Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2012. Minerva SA sees a “strong” increase in beef prices in the coming quarters, Fabiano Tito Rosa, the company’s head of research, told reporters in Barretos on Tuesday.Photographer: Dado Galdieri/Dado Galdieri

Provide news feedback or report an error

Confidential tip?

Send a tip to our reporters

Site feedback:

Take our Survey

By Gerson Freitas Jr.

December 15, 2017 at 10:12 AM UTC

Updated on

December 15, 2017 at 12:27 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

When it comes to Brazilian meat companies, shareholders’ losses are bondholders’ gains.

Take Minerva SA. Investors who bought the shares following the initial public offering in 2007 have lost 68 percent in dollar terms, more than double the decline in Brazil’s benchmark stock index. The company’s overseas bonds, however, have returned 198 percent over the past 10 years, double the average for emerging-market corporate bonds.