SEC Greenlights JBS IPO After Extended Delay

A coalition of non-profit advocacy groups, including our clients Mighty Earth and World Animal Protection, led a sustained effort to prevent a long-sought IPO of the Brazilian meat giant JBS, which has proven to be a corrupt criminal enterprise.

In part due to the scrutiny and pressure our team applied to JBS’s faulty investor disclosures, the company had to file multiple amendments to its F-4 registration statement, as we pointed out a panoply of misleading statements and material omissions in its filings.

Despite our efforts, despite continuing shortcomings in its SEC filings, and just on the heels of JBS-owned Pilgrim’s Pride donating a record-setting $5 million to President Trump’s inaugural committee, the SEC has now declared JBS’s registration statement effective. This administrative step clears the way for JBS to sell its shares directly to investors on the New York Stock Exchange, effectively “greenlighting” the company to raise even more money to fuel its metastasizing growth.

Observers who have been following our work on the JBS matters will recall that the company already raised $3.2 billion from U.S. bond investors by selling so-called “sustainability-linked bonds” on the promise that it would reach “net zero” carbon emissions by 2040. This claim, which was absurd on its face, flew in the face of evidence that its greenhouse gas emissions were skyrocketing and already exceeded those of several industrialized nations. The company then used those bond proceeds to buy up several of its American competitors.

Now, the company plans to fill its coffers by accessing the world’s most coveted securities marketplace, the New York Stock Exchange. But our clients’ efforts to shine a light on JBS’s serial unlawful conduct and the multiple threats it poses to the integrity of our securities markets are not over. We strongly urge the executive leadership of the New York Stock Exchange to reject JBS’s planned listing, recognizing that the listing would contravene the exchange’s long-established standards around transparency, integrity and compliance with the law.

If you are aware of other examples of companies misleading investors through “greenwashing” claims, please contact a securities fraud attorney at The Galbraith Law Firm by emailing inquiry@kevingalbraithlaw.com or calling 212.203.1249, for a free confidential consultation and evaluation of your potential whistleblower claim. Whistleblowers can be either company insiders or outside observers who have detected corporate wrongdoing.