South American meat giant to acquire Swift & Co.

South American meat giant to acquire Swift & Co.    Brazil-based beef processor JBS S.A., one of the world's largest meat exporters, has reached an agreement to buy U.S.-based Swift & Co., the world's third-largest processor of beef and port products, in an all-cash deal worth about $1.4 billion.
   Greeley, Colo.-based Swift was hurt last year by reduced exports when Japan imposed a temporary ban after the gland thymus was discovered in a shipment of Swift beef. Thymus is not a banned material, but the shipment did not have the proper documentation, according to officials in Japan. The export stoppage also led to an investigation by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
   Swift was also the focus of a nationwide series of immigration raids last December.
   Company officials said those problems did not lead to the sale, which had already been studied by the board of directors last year.
   JBS, meanwhile, said the deal will help it break into the Pacific Rim market. In addition to its U.S. plants, Swift is the leading meat processor in Australia.