Tyson Foods, Inc., Springdale, Ark., announced plans to invest in the foods division of Grupo Vibra, a Brazil-based producer and exporter of poultry products. Once completed, the deal will give Tyson Foods more flexibility in serving customers in key global markets.

“This investment will enable us to access poultry supplies in Brazil to meet the growing needs of Brazilian customers and of priority demand markets in Asia, Europe and the Middle East,” says Donnie King , group president, international and chief administration officer for Tyson Foods. “It’s part of our strategy to develop a more flexible supply chain and mitigate the volatility of our previous model, which relied primarily on U.S. exports.”

Grupo Vibra currently serves customers in Brazil as well as more than 50 countries around the world.

“This agreement is the result of the mutual trust between our two companies and the goal of both companies to expand globally,” says Flavio Sergio Wallauer, chairman of the board for Grupo Vibra. “We also both believe in the importance of constantly adding value to our products. For us, this includes continuing to grow, innovate and strengthen the position of our brands, Nat and Avia.”

“Tyson will add know-how and new business opportunities to speed up our growth,” says Gerson Luís Müller, chief executive officer of Grupo Vibra. “This partnership will be important to further develop our businesses in Brazil and foreign markets, granting access to new technologies and investments mainly in R&D. We will capitalize on a global distribution network to reach new markets. We trust that this agreement will strongly contribute to improve the quality of our services, adding new products to our portfolio offered to clients and consumers.”

As part of the agreement, Grupo Vibra will spin-off Agrogen, its genetics multiplication business, into a separate company.