RIO DE JANEIRO, April 9 (Xinhua) -- Brazilian meat giant Marfrig announced on Monday it had bought 51 percent of shares belonging to National Beef, the fourth largest American beef producer, for 969 million U.S. dollars.

This purchase makes Marfrig the second-largest beef producer in the world, behind its Brazilian compatriot, JBS, the company's statement revealed.

Marfrig said that the acquisition had been wholly financed with a loan by bank Rabobank. Marfrig valued National Beef at 2.3 billion U.S. dollars, including debts.

"With this transaction, we will have operations in the two largest beef markets in the world, we will arrive to extremely sophisticated consumer countries," said the statement, adding that "we have managed to grow while maintaining rigorous financial discipline."

The U.S. firm exports to 40 countries, including Japan and South Korea, which currently maintain an embargo on Brazilian meat imports.

Founded in 1992, National Beef saw revenue of 7.3 billion U.S. dollars in 2017 and has the capacity to slaughter 12,000 head of cattle a day.