Ban the Batistas Comments on Letter Signed by 15 Members of Congress Citing Deep Concerns around Brazil’s Meat Processing Giant’s Plans for NYSE IPO
New York, NY (January 12, 2024) – Ban the Batistas today applauded a letter from 15 bipartisan members of Congress led by Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) requesting that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) scrutinize for incomplete and inaccurate disclosures in the draft initial public offering (IPO) filing documents of JBS S.A. (JBS), the multinational foreign-owned meat company. The letter urges the SEC to “consider how JBS’s improper access to U.S. capital markets might strengthen its market position, enhance its ability to engage in anticompetitive conduct, and adversely impact U.S. farmers and ranchers,” while citing the company’s “track record of corruption, human rights abuses, monopolization of the meatpacking market, as well as environmental risks.”
Ban the Batistas Executive Director Kimberly Spell said, “As approval for JBS’s proposed IPO is under review, there is an unmistakable resurgence of deep concern for all American investors about the prospect of JBS and the Batista family gaining access to U.S. capital markets. This is a company with a history steeped in brazen misconduct, widespread bribery and corruption, and anticompetitive behavior – all while under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice for price-fixing the American meat market. We echo the U.S. Senators in calling on the SEC to use its powers and responsibilities to protect potential shareholders from the risks of a JBS IPO on the New York Stock Exchange.”
Spell continued, “Today’s letter shows Americans want JBS stopped. Allowing JBS to move forward unimpeded only rewards a company, and the Batista brothers, best known for illicit activity in the U.S., corporate malpractice, and criminal behavior.”
This letter is the second communication about the JBS IPO plans sent to SEC Chairman Gensler this week. On January 10, United Kingdom lawmakers wrote a letter urging the SEC to reject the IPO application citing grave concerns around JBS’ environmental track record.
The bipartisan letter to the SEC is signed by U.S. Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ), John Barrasso (R-WY), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), John Fetterman (D-PA), Josh Hawley (R-MO), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Bernard Sanders (I-VT), Jon Tester (D-MT), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Peter Welch (D-VT), and Ron Wyden (D-OR).
The full text of the letter can be found here.
