The new chairman of BRF- Brasil Foods SA is billionaire Abilio Diniz. He has said he would guide the country's biggest foodmaker for overseas expansion to boost profit margins. Diniz is also the chairman of Cia. Brasileira de Distribuicao Grupo Pao de Acucar.
While at the helm of Cia Brasileira De Distribuicao, he acquired assets to turn the retailer to become Brazil's biggest. He would be installed as BRF's new chairman after gaining the nod from two of the top three shareholders.
The investors of BRF are turning to Diniz to help the company recover in terms of growth after its acquisition of Sadia Sa back in 2009 to the cost of US$3.8 billion. This caught the attention of regulators to require the company to create asset sales. The first order of business would be to cut costs for the maker of TV dinners and yogurt from Sao Paulo.
The nomination though is not without conflict. Pao de Acucar's controlling shareholder Casino Guichard-Perrachon SA has asked Diniz to resign from his retailer board position at Pao de Acucar to avoid conflicts of interest. Diniz plans to keep both jobs. Another critic is Glass Lewis & Co, because the food maker is Pao de Acucar's largest supplier and the retailer is its largest client.
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