GREELEY - Brazilian meat processor JBS S.A. will wait until January to make an initial public offering of its U.S. unit -- Greeley-based JBS USA -- to give it time to close its acquisition of Pilgrim's Pride Corp. and complete its merger with Bertin S.A., a former Brazilian competitor.

JBS S.A. announced Sept. 16 it was acquiring 64 percent of poultry giant Pilgrim's Pride for $2.8 billion, a transaction expected to be complete in December. The company had filed a request for a $2 billion IPO with the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission in July and was expecting approval in September.

But Jerry O'Callaghan, JBS S.A.'s director of investor relations, was quoted on Meatingplace.com as saying the company decided to hold off on the IPO until the merger and acquisition matters were completed.

Earlier this week, Montana-based cattle-producers trade organization R-CALF USA sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice requesting that it block the proposed merger of JBS and Pilgrim's Pride. R-CALF expressed concerns about the proposed acquisition of JBS' protein product competitor, including the likelihood that JBS would secure the means to manipulate both live cattle and beef prices by varying the output of the poultry operation and the price of its poultry.

"Prices received by R-CALF USA members for their cattle are particularly susceptible to increased poultry supplies," said R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard in a prepared statement. "We estimate that JBS' share of fed cattle packing capacity in the U.S. is now over 25 percent, and with the acquisition of the vertically integrated Pilgrim's Pride -- which controls over 20 percent of U.S. poultry production -- JBS could further manipulate the competing protein market in the United States."