JBS shareholders approve US stock listing despite pushback from environmental groups and others

Brazilian meat giant JBS came a step closer Friday to its long-held goal of trading its shares on the New York Stock Exchange.

The company's minority shareholders voted to approve the company's plan to list its shares both in Sao Paulo and New York, casting aside opposition from environmental groups, U.S. lawmakers and others who noted JBS' record of corruption, monopolistic behavior and environmental destruction.

JBS Global CEO Gilberto Tomazoni said the outcome showed shareholders were confident in the benefits a dual listing would bring. The company said before the vote that listing shares in the U.S. would boost its global profile and attract new investors.

JBS said it expected to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange on June 12. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission granted the company's request to list its shares in New York late last month.

JBS is one of the world's largest food companies, with more than 250 production facilities in 17 countries. Half of its annual revenue comes from the U.S., where it has more than 72,000 employees. It's America's top beef producer and it's second-largest producer of poultry and pork.

JBS's plan — which has been in the works for years — has generated significant pushback.

Last fall, 20 environmental organizations — including Mighty Earth, Greenpeace and Rainforest Action Network — signed an open letter to JBS investors opposing the listing, saying it would put the climate at greater risk.

Glass Lewis, an influential independent investor advisory firm, was also among those recommending that shareholders reject the plan.

In its report, Glass Lewis said the recent return of brothers Joesley and Wesley Batista to the JBS board should concern investors. The brothers, who are the sons of JBS' founder, were briefly jailed in Brazil in 2017 on bribery and corruption charges.

''In our view, the involvement of the company and of Joesley and Wesley Batista in multiple high-profile scandals has tarnished the company's reputation, undermining stakeholder trust and posing a significant risk to its competitive position,'' Glass Lewis said.

Glass Lewis also objected to the company's plan for dual share classes, which would give the Batistas and other controlling shareholders more voting power.

In its response to Glass Lewis' report, JBS said it has established more stringent controls and anti-corruption training at the company in recent years. It also said a U.S. listing would ensure more oversight from U.S. authorities.

''We believe this transaction will increase our visibility in global markets, attract new investors and further strengthen our position as a global food industry leader,'' Tomazoni said in a statement last month when the company announced Friday's vote.

Many U.S. lawmakers also aren't convinced JBS belongs on the New York Stock Exchange.

In a letter sent last week to JBS, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, noted that Pilgrim's Pride — a U.S. company owned by JBS — was the largest single donor to President Donald Trump's inaugural committee, with a $5 million gift. The SEC's approval came just weeks after that donation, Warren said.

''I am concerned Pilgrim's Pride may have made its contribution to the inaugural fund to curry favor with the Trump administration,'' Warren wrote in the letter, which asked the company why the donation was made.

In a statement, JBS said it has a ''long bipartisan history of participating in the civic process.''

Warren was also among a bipartisan group of 15 U.S. senators who sent a letter to the SEC in January 2024 urging the agency to reject a U.S. listing for JBS. The senators, a diverse group that rarely agrees on policy, included Republicans Marco Rubio of Florida and Josh Hawley of Missouri, Democrat Cory Booker of New Jersey and Independent Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

The letter noted that in 2020, J&F Investments, a controlling shareholder of JBS that is owned by the Batista family, pleaded guilty to bribery charges in U.S. federal court and agreed to pay fines of $256 million.

It also said Pilgrim's Pride pleaded guilty to price-fixing charges in 2021. And it said U.S. Senate investigations found that JBS is ''turning a blind eye'' to rainforest destruction in the Amazon by its suppliers.

''Approval of JBS' proposed listing would subject U.S. investors to risk from a company with a history of blatant, systemic corruption, and further entrench its monopoly power and embolden its monopoly practices,'' the letter said.