How JBS is still slaughtering the Amazon

Page 34

Risk factor: corruption

‘It was the rule of the game. […] Corruption was on the upper floor, with the authorities.’ 52 Joesley Batista

‘Strong political connections and financing from stateowned banks facilitated the growth of JBS and other group companies. The family and its companies are now implicated in politically-linked corruption investigations.’ 53 is still Slaughtering the Amazon

Debtwire, October 2016

While JBS was founded by José Batista Sobrinho, most of the company’s expansion has come under the leadership of his three sons: José Batista Júnior (known as Júnior Friboi), Wesley and Joesley.54 The Batista family also owns a significant share of JBS, via holding company J&F Investimentos. According to the 2017 US Securities and Exchange Commission filing, ‘J&F is owned, indirectly through several Brazilian holding companies, by the Batista Family’ including JBS founder José Batista Sobrinho and five of his children.55 As of 25 June 2020, the Batista family’s investment arm held a 40.03% stake in JBS,56 with an additional 2.3% stake held by JBS itself and classified as ‘treasury’.57 The Brazilian government’s BNDES bank is the second-largest shareholder of JBS, with a 21.32% stake.58 Foreign investors – including international banks, investor funds and sovereign wealth funds – appear to hold at least 16% of the group, according to Bloomberg.59 According to Debtwire, the Batista family’s political links and relationships with government and the state, and particularly its ties with state-owned banks, have been key to

How

its growth. BNDES provided financing to JBS

30

for its landmark acquisitions, including Pilgrim’s


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Articles inside

Exploiting workers

2min
pages 78-79

Sowing sickness – spreading disease and pollution

3min
pages 76-77

Poor diet, poor health

6min
pages 80-85

What defines a resilient food economy?

1min
pages 86-87

Pile it high and sell it cheap

2min
pages 54-55

Poisoning the environment

1min
page 65

Breaking the climate budget and polluting our planet

2min
page 61

Devouring the land

5min
pages 62-64

Trampling the rights of Indigenous Peoples and traditional communities

0
pages 74-75

Risk factor: deforestation

11min
pages 36-43

Risk factor: human rights violations

20min
pages 44-53

The G4 Cattle Agreement– commitments a decade overdue

5min
pages 24-25

Risk factor: corruption

3min
pages 34-35

Covering its tracks – how leading processor JBS is backsliding on transparency commitments

15min
pages 26-33

High stakes – how industrial meat is taking us to the tipping point

3min
page 5

Buying blind – the market’s no-questions-asked approach to global commodities trade

18min
pages 16-23

Taking stock – JBS, the world’s largest meat producer, is still slaughtering the Amazon

2min
page 6

Big in the UK 2

2min
pages 12-15

Taking the bull by the horns – time for urgent action to transform the global food economy

6min
pages 8-11

Supporting destruction – supermarkets and fast food companies are bankrolling environmental collapse

2min
page 7
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