JBS is still hot on the acquisition trail after announcing it is to acquire Cargill’s US-based pork business for $1.45bn, just over a week since it announced a $1.5bn buyout of Moy Park.

The deal includes two processing plants, situated in Iowa and Illinois, five feed mills located throughout Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa and Texas, and four hog farms in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas.

In a statement, JBS said this latest acquisition was in line with its strategy to "grow its portfolio of prepared and value-added products", similar to the reasoning behind the Moy Park purchase.

The Brazilian company, the world’s largest meat processor, has pursued an aggressive and opportunistic acquisition strategy over the last decade. However, these latest acquisitions may have come as somewhat of a surprise to investors after JBS announced in its 2014 annual report that the business would be focusing on organic growth in 2015 and would not be targeting any further acquisitions.

Originally a private family-owned company, JBS was floated on the Brazilian stock exchange in 2007. Since then, JBS’s main funding partner has been the Brazilian Economic Development Bank (BNDES), a state owned investment bank which holds a 30% stake in the company.