Minerva Foods SA, South America’s top beef exporter, agreed to buy some assets from rival Marfrig Global Foods SA for 7.5 billion reais ($1.5 billion).

The assets, located in Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Chile, will boost the company’s cattle slaughtering capacity by 44%, the Minerva said in a statement on Monday. The deal comes at a time when Minerva is outperforming its peers, which have been hit by higher grain costs.

Minerva, which has already paid 1.5 billion reais, said JPMorgan has committed to providing financing for the rest of the transaction.

Author: Gerson Freitas Jr.