Tasmanian environmentalists have called on the federal treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, to reject a proposed takeover of a major Australian salmon farming business following allegations made against the Brazil-based buyer.
JBS, a multinational meat-packing giant, earlier this month made an offer to buy Huon Aquaculture, Australia’s second-largest salmon farmer, with a share offer reportedly worth more than $500m.
The bid has proven controversial. Huon’s founders and major shareholders, Peter and Frances Bender, recommended the sale go ahead, but the proposal was rejected by another significant shareholder – the mining billionaire Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest – who criticised JBS’s environmental record.
Forrest doubled his own Huon shareholding to 18.5% – through the Forrest family investment fund Tattarang. JBS responded with a parallel offer to buy a minimum 50.1% of shares.
The push has come as the Tasmanian salmon industry faces ongoing pressure following detailed allegations in a book by the award-winning author Richard Flanagan. Published in April, the book Toxic says the salmon industry is devastating local waterways and state authorities have failed to regulate it.
Campaigners with the Tasmanian Alliance for Marine Protection (Tamp) this week wrote to Frydenberg asking him to use foreign investment review powers to reject JBS’s proposed takeover.
Tamp cited a similar call in the US by two senators – Democrat Bob Menendez and Republican Marco Rubio – asking the treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, to have that country’s committee on forest investment review all acquisitions by JBS and other companies owned by its controlling shareholders, brothers Wesley and Joesley Batista.
In the letter to Frydenberg, Tamp’s co-chair, Peter George, said JBS’s history included convictions and fines for bribery in the US, involvement in destruction of Amazon rainforests to enhance their cattle operations, and accepting significant Tasmanian government subsidies before closing abattoirs and processing facilities. JBS’s parent company pleaded guilty to foreign bribery charges in the US in 2020, paying more than US$128m in penalties.
“The sale [of Huon to JBS] is now untenable and either the Benders should stop the sale now or the Foreign Investment Review Board must act to prevent it,” George said.
A spokesperson for JBS responded that the company had “a long and proud history of growing its Australian businesses, investing heavily in local operations and domestic brands, and supporting employment opportunities for more than 11,000 Australians”.
“JBS intends to build on the legacy of the Bender family at Huon, upholding the highest standards for superior quality, fish health and sustainable farming practices – from water management to animal welfare, net zero emissions and stock densities,” the company said.
JBS pointed to a statement by the Tasmanian premier, Peter Gutwein, that JBS had “demonstrated they are a very reasonable corporate citizen in their time in Tasmania and I don’t expect that will change”.
A spokesperson for Frydenberg said the government did not comment on how foreign investment screening arrangements could be applied in specific cases.
A spokesperson for Huon Aquaculture told Guardian Australia the company had outlined its position on JBS’s offer in comments to the Australian Stock Exchange.
Flanagan’s book – in which he accused the industry of “an elaborate and highly successful con job” – has been used in campaigns that aim to persuade supermarkets and restaurants not to stock the state’s Atlantic salmon unless its practices change.
Critics of the industry include Louise Cherrie, an environment management consultant who in 2018 resigned from a Tasmanian government panel overseeing salmon farming expansion. She has said there was no sound scientific basis for a planned doubling of production over the next decade, and that concerns she and another member raised were consistently ignored.
Jilly Middleton, from the conservation group Environment Tasmania, supported Tamp’s letter to Frydenberg. She said allowing a company with JBS’s record to take control of Huon Aquaculture would be a “spectacular failure” but it would not matter who was leading salmon farming companies “if our laws actually worked to protect the environment, community and the welfare of stock and wildlife”.
“The fact that we are relying on intervention by Twiggy, or the [Foreign Investment Review Board] to avoid potentially disastrous outcomes should be a blazing red flag,” she said.
The state government has rejected the concerns raised by Flanagan, Cherrie and campaigners.
