JV with Indonesia’s Sovereign Fund Supports Growth Optionality; Valuation Implies Solid Value Creation

Research evidence excerpt

J P M O R G A N

Latin America Equity Research

07 August 2026

JBS NV

JV with Indonesia’s Sovereign Fund Supports Growth

Optionality; Valuation Implies Solid Value Creation

JBS announced a strategic partnership with PT Danantara Investment

Management (DIM), the investment arm of Indonesia’s sovereign wealth fund,

focused on pursuing protein-sector investments in Indonesia, other Southeast

Asian markets, Australia and New Zealand. The structure creates a dedicated

vehicle housing JBS’s Australia/New Zealand operations and brings in a large,

staged equity commitment from DIM (totaling $2.5bn) with the potential to add

meaningful external leverage at the JV level, positioning the partnership as a

growth and M&A platform without requiring an immediate incremental cash

contribution from JBS itself. We estimate the transaction implies an EV/EBITDA

multiple of 9.0x, based on DIM’s US$2.5bn investment for a 25% stake, JBS

Australia’s 2025 IFRS EBITDA of R$916mn, and assuming US$1.0bn of debt - an

exceptionally high valuation in our view given that ~70% of the division’s results

are generated by beef and compared to the 4.6x multiple we apply to the segment

in our SOTP.

Our take is slightly positive. We view this as a creative way for JBS to keep

the “growth + M&A” agenda moving, while preserving cash at a moment

when the balance sheet appears more constrained, with the bulk of incremental

funding coming from the strategic partner and (potentially) from JV-level debt.

On the call, management noted that potential M&A could focus on poultry,

seafood and beef, although it is too early to discuss specific targets. Of note, we

do not think the market is currently paying a significant premium for growth

initiatives in the name; near-term investor attention is still likely to center on

operational recovery - particularly in US Beef - rather than long-dated

expansion optionality. We also see a potential read-through that executing

inorganic growth in US processed (historically a key part of the equity

narrative) remains challenging, pushing the company to source growth vectors

elsewhere. That said, on valuation we reiterate that this was an exceptional

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