CORPORATE GOVERNANCE IN AGRI-BUSINESS
Fazenda Roncador (as well as Grupo Roncador) has been an established family-owned business, initially set up by Pelerson Soares Penido, and then run by his son and thereafter his grandsons since 1971. &Green was notified that Mrs. Rosa Penido Dalla Vecchia, the controlling shareholder of Roncador Group passed away in 2021, triggering a restructuring of the company and farming operations. To this date the restructuring is still not yet completed (although it is expected to conclude in 2023), as it requires a high degree of bureaucratical steps before judicial authorities, as well as a number of legal, tax and corporate actions.
Family businesses are the backbone of Latin-America’s economy, as they support approximately 60% of the region’s GDP (reference article linked here). This is even more significant in agribusiness as most of corporate farms in Brazil, including S&E companies, are still ran as first or second-generation family businesses, similar to Roncador. As a result, succession and governance are of particular importance for financing institutions like &Green, who invest in these sectors and regions.