Brazilian meat giant JBS has been approved to take over Huon Aquaculture. 

Huon Aquaculture will soon be owned by overseas interests, after Australia's Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) approved takeover plans from Brazilian meat-processor JBS. 

The bid values the company at about $550 million, including debt. It offered shareholders $3.85 per share. 

Shareholders will vote on the takeover this week, ahead of a meeting on Friday. 

However, JBS already owns 40 per cent of Huon Aquaculture shares, and the company’s founders hold another 12 per cent, meaning they could push the deal through themselves if needed. 

But JBS needs 75 per cent support for its scheme of arrangement to pass, which would allow JBS to compulsorily acquire the remaining shares, including the 18 per cent held by mining magnate Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest.

It alls comes after Huon Aquaculture Group delivered a full-year statutory loss of $128 million in 2020-21, which it blamed on a “turbulent year” that included a fish pen fire, the mysterious disappearance of tonnes of salmon from a New South Wales processing plant and soaring freight costs.