The billionaire Batista brothers behind Brazilian beef giant JBS SA are preparing to invest more than $1 billion to expand production at mines they acquired last year from Vale SA.
J&F Investimentos SA, the family holding, emerged as the surprise buyer of Vale’s iron ore and manganese mines in the central west state of Mato Grosso do Sul, their first foray into the metals business. The $1.2 billion assets also included logistics operations.
Since taking over, J&F has already managed to double 2021’s output to 4 million tons and the 5.5 billion reais ($1.1 billion) to be invested going forward should help get output up to 10 million tons by the end of next year and improve logistics, according to a company spokesperson.
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