GREELEY, Colo.—Swift & Co. chief executive Sam Rovit will be replaced when the meatpacker’s sale to Brazil’s J&F Participacoes S.A. is completed, the company said.
Greeley-based Swift, the third-largest beef and pork processor in the U.S., announced Monday that Rovit will be succeeded by Wesley Mendonca Batista, a partner in J&F and executive director of operations for Brazil-based JBS S.A., the largest beef processor in Latin America.
J&F is the controlling shareholder of JBS.
Swift spokesman Sean McHugh said Batista plans to move to northern Colorado.
“I don’t have a timetable, but he will move here in the very near future,” McHugh said.
Rovit has been president, chief executive officer and a director of Swift since July 1, 2005. He will relinquish all three roles.
McHugh said he did not know Rovit’s plans.
In a written statement, Rovit said he was proud of Swift’s accomplishments, “namely the dramatic improvement in our U.S. beef business while maintaining our industry-leading positions in U.S. pork and Australian beef.”
Batista praised Rovit’s leadership “during a very challenging time for both Swift and the beef industry.”
J&F will acquire Swift for $225 million cash from HM Capital Partners of Dallas and Vail-based Booth Creek Management Corp. It will assume $1.2 billion in debt and pay transaction-related expenses.
The deal was announced last month.
The companies said the combined operation will become the largest beef processing operation in the world. Closing, which is contingent upon antitrust reviews, is expected in mid-July.
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