Ricardo Faria, a Brazilian entrepreneur dubbed the ‘Egg King’, has reportedly bought US egg producer Hillandale Farms in a $1.1bn deal.
Reports from The Financial Times and Reuters, as well as Brazilian media outlets, said Faria is buying the US business through his Global Eggs company.
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The move takes him into the US market for the first time and builds on his purchase of Spain’s Grupo Hevo in November.
Luxembourg-based Global Eggs operates in Brazil through Granja Faria, which was founded by Faria in 2006.
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania-based Hillandale Farms, one of the largest egg producers in the US, is a family-run business founded in 1958.
On Faria’s motivation for the deal, the FT, which pointed out that US egg prices have surged as avian flu ravages the country’s hens, quoted the Brazilian as saying: “Americans love eggs. It’s a market with high consumption. Eggs are the fastest-growing consumer good on the shelf or in supermarket trolleys.”
US imports of Brazilian eggs near doubled in February.
It is estimated that bird flu has wiped out nearly 170 million chickens, turkeys and other birds in the US since 2022. The Trump administration is trying to make up the shortfall by easing restrictions on egg imports from the likes of Turkey and South Korea, as well as Brazil.
But Faria, who has an estimated wealth of $3bn, told the FT the purchase of Hillandale Farms was not motivated by recent market dynamics but fitted his international expansion strategy.
He said the Hillandale deal takeover will double Global Eggs’ production output, giving it 2024 revenue of about $2bn.
The newspaper said that, as part of the Hillandale Farms transaction, the private-equity arm of Brazilian investment bank BTG Pactual is to inject $300m into Global Eggs in exchange for an 11% stake. It reported that an IPO of Global Eggs in New York is in the offing.
Just Food has asked Hillandale Farms for its statement on the deal.
Faria’s deal for Spain’s Hevo Group last year saw him take over ownership of the business from Madrid-based Cleon Capital and other backers including Austria’s Yana Investment Partners.
Financial terms were not disclosed, although one Spanish media source suggested a transaction figure of €120m ($126.9m at the time).
