Businessman Wesley Batista, shareholder of the J&F group, announced this Monday (22), the construction of Eldorado Brasil’s second cellulose production line. The factory expansion project in Três Lagoas is budgeted at R$25 billion and is expected to generate 10,000 jobs during the peak period of the work. Upon completion, there will be two thousand workers operating the factory. Currently, Eldorado Brasil has more than 5 thousand employees.
The announcement of the construction of the second line was made at an event by the Esfera group, held at Palácio Tangará in São Paulo, this Monday.
In addition to the second line, J&F will also build a 90 km railway to transport production and expand investments in planted forests to supply the factory with raw materials.
Called Vanguarda 2.0, the project to build Eldorado Brasil’s second pulp line in Três Lagoas has been ready for ten years. The expansion of the factory has not yet started due to a legal dispute over control of the industry, which was put up for sale by J&F in September 2017 to Paper Excellence for the amount of R$15 billion. However, the transaction was not completed.
Paper Excellence owns 49.41% of Eldorado and is fighting to take 100% of its control. J&F has control of 50.59% of the shares, and has already announced that it intends to undo the deal and return the amount paid by Paper. The businessman says he is confident that J&F will once again assume 100% control of the factory, after a recent court decision that suspended the transfer of shares from Eldorado to Paper Excellence.
The decision paves the way for J&F to continue with the factory expansion plan in Três Lagoas.
