It was against this backdrop that GT Foods (now rebranded as GTF) was forced to abruptly interrupt a trajectory of sustained growth driven by organic expansion and acquisitions.

Owner of the Canção Alimentos brand, the company owned by the Gonçalves and Tortola families, based in Maringá, Paraná, surprised the market and entered judicial recovery that year.

At the time, GT had around 11,000 employees and was among the ten largest chicken exporters in Brazil.

“The company had never had a negative year, it always posted positive margins, but the economic scenario and the increase in agricultural commodity prices — which doubled in three months — led a highly leveraged, fast-growing company to a lack of liquidity,” Rafael Tortola, CEO of GTF and a second-generation family member now leading the company, told Brazil Journal.

Nearly ten years later, the company is now experiencing a period of rebuilding its “bankability.” The judicial recovery process ended in 2020 and lasted less than four years — a major achievement in a country where most companies that go through RJ fail to turn things around.

“We went from nearly R$1 billion in debt, with leverage of almost nine times, to zero net debt by the end of 2024,” said Vinícius Gonçalves, the company’s CFO and Rafael’s cousin.

In July, the company issued a CRA worth R$375 million, coordinated by Bradesco BBI; strong demand allowed the original amount to be increased by 25%.

Part of the proceeds is being used to settle debts with the bank itself — the company’s largest creditor during the RJ process — and to extend the debt profile. The remainder will be invested in growth.

With a slaughter capacity of 630,000 birds per day, GTF plans to invest R$300 million in 2026 alone to expand its production capacity. The goal: reach 1 million birds slaughtered per day by 2030.

To achieve this, the company is already planning another CRA issuance and is negotiating a R$250 million financing with Finep for its industrial expansion.

GTF closed 2025 with revenues of R$4.5 billion — nearly three times the revenue at the time of the RJ. If it maintains an average annual growth rate of 15%, the company from Maringá is expected to reach R$10 billion in revenue by 2030.

Founded in 1992 by the grandfather and parents of Rafael and Vinícius, GTF has 85% of its business focused on chicken, including breeder production, feed mills, slaughtering, and commercialization. Along with the company’s rebranding, GTF hired soccer player Neymar Jr. as brand ambassador for Canção.

The player’s face appears on much of the packaging in the ready-meals division, which includes breaded chicken products and snacks such as chips, polenta, and cheese bread. The company expects to launch 20 new SKUs this year.

“We expect the ready-meals division to reach 20% of total revenue by 2030,” said Tortola, who also plans to take some ready-meal product lines to international markets (which currently account for 20% of the business).

GTF is often compared to São Salvador Alimentos (SSA), from the state of Goiás. Similar in size and with regional operations, both companies have relied on new generations of their founding families to run the business, are seeking market funding to pursue even more ambitious growth, and are often cited as potential IPO candidates.

SSA came close to a R$1 billion IPO in 2021 but canceled the offering when the macroeconomic environment shifted.

“I believe an IPO is a natural path for our company and could be an option in the coming years. But today we have zero leverage and believe we can continue growing without having to access the capital markets,” said Tortola.

From the market’s perspective, however, SSA is expected to go public ahead of GTF when the IPO window reopens, as the Goiás-based company’s governance is more mature. According to one analyst, there would also be limited investor demand for two companies in the same segment at a similar stage.

While an IPO remains on hold, GTF aims to be more than just a chicken producer. The company is investing in what will become the largest tilapia farm in Brazil, located in Terra Rica, also in the state of Paraná.

The project will cover 200 hectares of water surface and will require R$120 million in investments over the next five years. Currently, 45 hectares are already in operation.

“The fish market has grown significantly in Brazil. We say it’s the chicken of the water, because it’s a product that is becoming increasingly accessible to Brazilian consumers,” said Tortola.

In addition to its food operations, the group also entered the modified starches segment after acquiring, in 2015, the assets of the bankrupt Santa Catarina-based company Lorenz. The brand manufactures products such as maltodextrin, dextrin, and modified starch used in various industrial processes, from food to chemicals.

Today, this division accounts for 10% of the group’s revenue. “We are the largest cassava root processor in Brazil,” said the CEO.

Source: Brazil Journal