Biggest leather manufacturing group has been years in the making
More details have emerged of the moves that have led to the setting up of JBS Viva, which, subject to regulatory approval, will be the largest leather manufacturing group in the world.
At the end of November, JBS issued a statement to say it was setting the new group up as a 50-50 partnership with Grupo Viva.
The leather manufacturing activities of both groups will merge, leading to a new set-up that will have 31 production sites throughout the world and around 11,000 employees.
JBS Viva’s chief executive and chief operating officer will come from the Grupo Viva side of the business, while the JBS side will appoint the chairman of the new company’s board and chief finance officer. It will have the capacity to process 20 million hides per year.
Grupo Viva is itself a merger of Brazilian leather manufacturing groups. Paraná-based Vancouros and Santa Catarina-based Viposa formally launched Grupo Viva in 2024, following five years of negotiations.
Viposa and Vancouros have also worked together to set up a gelatin and collagen joint venture called Gelprime.
Of the new JBS Viva, the chief executive of JBS, Gilberto Tomazoni, said it would be a “more robust” business than the sum of its parts. He also said it would be in a strong position to compete on the global stage.
The chief executive of the leather division of JBS, Guilherme Motta, said: “The leather supply chain is still a strategic focus, one that cements JBS’s vision that sustainability and profitability go hand in hand. To transform hides, a natural by-product of the bovine protein value chain, into shoes, bags and upholstery for automotive and furniture, is to give them a new life.”
