Dispute over management threatens $297M sale of crushing crops in Paraná
2 June 2025
2 minute learn
A authorized dispute over management of Brazilian soy processor Imcopa, which has been below chapter safety for a few decade, is threatening to derail a court-run public sale for 2 crushing crops in southern Brazil that had beforehand drawn curiosity from main merchants Bunge and Cargill, reported Reuters.
R2C Investimentos, an asset supervisor that appointed Imcopa’s former administration, is difficult what it known as “irregularities” associated to the July 3 public sale, and vowed in a press release to warn potential bidders of “the illegalities of the aggressive course of.”
An lawyer for brewer Cervejaria Petropolis, whose proprietor acquired most of Imcopa’s defaulted loans by way of corporations in Brazil and overseas, mentioned ongoing litigation in a number of jurisdictions mustn’t have an effect on the public sale. The minimal value for the 2 crops and Imcopa’s soyoil model is 1.7 billion actual ($297.35 million), courtroom filings confirmed.
The public sale marks the most recent try to promote the 2 Imcopa crushing crops positioned close to soy-rich areas and a big port in Parana state. It’s a uncommon acquisition alternative in Brazil, the world’s largest soybean producer and a serious soymeal exporter. Nonetheless, authorized dangers concerned and present unfavourable crushing margins in Brazil might hold consumers at bay.
In February 2020, US grains dealer Bunge made the sole bid for the 2 crops, which have annual crushing capability of 1.5 million metric tons of soy and concentrate on non-transgenic soy processing. On the time, about 1 billion reais of debt had been connected to the crops, whose sale course of was run by the state chapter courtroom overseeing Imcopa’s restructuring since 2013.
The deal unravelled in 2021 amid the protracted courtroom battles involving Cervejaria Petropolis, which had a leasing association to function the crops on the time.
Bunge, which by no means took management of the property, declined to remark.
In 2023, Cargill suggested the courtroom of its potential curiosity in Imcopa’s property, looking for clarification concerning the liabilities concerned, paperwork seen by Reuters on the time confirmed, however a deal didn’t materialize.
Cargill declined to touch upon Imcopa’s new public sale, which would require consumers to deposit the minimal worth in an escrow account to repay lenders and taxes, in keeping with Cervejaria Petropolis.
After Bunge’s failed takeover try, it maintained an association with Cervejaria Petropolis to produce soybeans to Imcopa in trade for completed merchandise. The brewer’s lawyer mentioned that deal lapsed final 12 months, when each crops had been idled for upkeep.
Cervejaria Petropolis has run Imcopa since March 2024, when the chapter courtroom gave it management after a legal probe concentrating on former Imcopa executives, the brewer mentioned on the time.
That sealed investigation remains to be underway. R2C has denied any wrongdoing involving Imcopa’s former administration.
($1 = 5.7172 reais)
