Beef Suppliers Clash Over Uruguay Plants as Brazil Faces Tariffs

Marfrig Global Foods SA and Minerva SA are clashing over Uruguay beef plants at the center of an antitrust review — at a time when US tariffs are making those assets more valuable to the Brazilian meatpackers.

Sao Paulo-based Marfrig said Friday that an agreed sale of three meatpacking plants to its smaller rival had been automatically terminated after Minerva failed to secure antitrust approval in Uruguay within a two-year deadline. In a separate filing, Minerva countered that the “agreement remains in full force and effect.”

Uruguay’s antitrust authorities have blocked the deal amid concerns that Minerva would gain ...