Brazil-based beef producer Minerva S.A. has shown higher-than-expected profits and cash flows in 2012 and its management's commitment to deleverage. The prospects for Brazil's beef industry remain favorable, and Minerva recently announced a share sale to accelerate its debt reduction. We are raising our Brazilian national scale issuer credit rating on Minerva to 'brBBB+' from 'brBBB'. We are also affirming our 'B+' global scale ratings on the company and revising our outlook on the national and global scale ratings to positive from stable. The positive outlook reflects our view that we could raise the ratings on Minerva during the next 12 months if the company's credit indicators continue to strengthen, with debt to EBITDA consistently of about 3.5x and FFO
