🧑‍⚖️ Pulp friction

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A seven-year legal dispute opens a new chapter

Recent court decisions have added new twists to a long-running corporate battle over control of Eldorado Brasil, one of the country’s largest pulp manufacturers. The billion-dollar dispute pits Brazil’s powerful J&F conglomerate — owner of global meatpacking giant JBS — against Paper Excellence, a multinational group controlled by Indonesian businessman Jackson Wijaya.

Last week, a panel on private law disputes at São Paulo’s top state court (TJ-SP) overturned a 2022 ruling by one of its business courts that had upheld an international arbitration awarding control of Eldorado to Paper Excellence. The case will now be retried by a different judge.

The decision marks the latest victory for J&F,¹ the holding company led by brothers Joesley and Wesley Batista, which currently controls Eldorado. In 2017, J&F agreed to sell the pulp producer to Paper Excellence. But as global pulp prices surged, the Brazilian firm sought to walk back on the deal, setting off years of legal wrangling in Brazilian and foreign courts.

The case has ballooned into a sprawling saga, involving arbitration proceedings, foreign land ownership laws, and regulatory hurdles. Here is how the dispute has unfolded — and where it stands now.

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