WASHINGTON, DC – Today, US Senator Herb Kohl (D-WI), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights, issued a statement in response to JBS S.A. abandoning its efforts to acquire National Beef Packing Co. LLC.  In June 2008, Kohl recommended that the Department of Justice take action to block the deal as stated in a letter sent to the agency.  This recommendation came after Senator Kohl held an Antitrust Subcommittee hearing on the deal in May 2008.  On Oct. 20, 2008, The Justice Department filed a lawsuit against the takeover of National Beef Packing Co. by JBS.  Kohl's statement is as follows:

We are gratified to learn that JBS Swift, the nation's third largest beef processor, has today abandoned its efforts to acquire one of its principal competitors, National Beef Packing Company LLC.  After conducting an extensive investigation of this deal at the Antitrust Subcommittee, including a Subcommittee hearing last May, we concluded that this deal would have substantially injured competition, and would have harmed ranchers and consumers.   The Justice Department agreed with our conclusion, and filed an antitrust lawsuit to block the deal.

We will continue to monitor competition in the agricultural sector and exercise oversight over the Justice Department to insure that it takes all necessary actions to prevent undue agricultural concentration in the future.

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