Brazilian food processing group Perdigão yesterday received competition approval from the EU Commission for its takeover of rival Sadia.
The deal is creating a new company, Brasil Foods, the largest producer and exporter of processed meat in the world.
The merger was announced in May with both companies agreeing to undergo corporate restructuring, and Sadia’s shareholders conducting a stock swap with Perdigão.
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, acting through its London and Brussels offices, and Barbosa Müssnich & Aragão in Brazil represented the parties in the process of filing with the Commission.
Perdigão has activities in the meat and dairy sectors, as well as producing ready-to-use pastry and frozen vegetables, using manufacturing units in Brazil, Argentina, the UK, the Netherlands and Romania.
Sadia’s meanwhile concentrates on distributing beef, pork, chicken and turkey products, with industrial units in the Netherlands and Russia, as well as its Brazilian operations.
In Brazil, Perdigão retained Bocater, Camargo, Costa e Silva Advogados, with additional advice from Machado, Meyer, Sendacz e Opice Advogados on some corporate and capital markets matters and Fontes, Tarso Ribeiro Advogados as antitrust counsel. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP is the company’s US counsel.
Sadia's Brazilian legal team was led by long-term counsel Barbosa Müssnich & Aragão, with Barretto Ferreira, Kujawski, Brancher e Gonçalves assisting more recently on the deal structuring and drafting of the merger agreement. The company is also using Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP in the US.
The deal is still awaiting approval from Brazil’s antitrust tribunal CADE.
Counsel to Perdigão and Sadia (in the European Commission filing)
· Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP
Partners Rachel Brandenburger and John Davies and associates
Alastair Chapman and Timothy Lamb
· Barbosa Müssnich & Aragão
Partner Barbara Rosenberg
Counsel to Perdigão
· In-house counsel - Silvia Coelho
Brazil
· Bocater, Camargo, Costa e Silva Advogados
Partner Francisco Costa e Silva and associates Carlos Augusto, Lucimara Lima and Mauricio Rossi
· Machado, Meyer, Sendacz e Opice Advogados
Partners Eliana Ambrósio Chimenti and Nei Schilling Zelmanovits
· Fontes, Tarso Ribeiro Advogados
Paulo de Tarso Ribeiro
US
· Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP
Partners Glenn Reiter and John Ericson and associates Grenfel Calheiros and Jonathan Lieberman
Counsel to Sadia
· In-house counsel - Romeu Amaral
Brazil
· Barbosa Müssnich & Aragão
Partners Paulo Cezar Aragão, Monique Mavignier, Luiz Antonio de Sampaio Campos and Barbara Rosenberg and associates Daniela Soares, Priscila Jane dos Santos, Mariane Pereira, José Carlos da Matta Berardo and Marcos Antonio Exposto Jr
· Barretto Ferreira, Kujawski, Brancher e Gonçalves
Partner Gustavo Contrucci
US
· Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP
Partners David Mercado and Craig Arcella and associates Jonathan Davis, Minji Cho, Roberto Bruno and Camila Amaral
DT
(Latin Lawyer 02.07.2009)
(Notícia na íntegra)