The board of directors of Minerva SA approved a feasibility study for an IPO of its wholly owned Chilean unit, Athena Foods.

The Brazilian packaged food and meat producer disclosed the plan in its second-quarter financial report on Aug. 7.

Minerva said that once the payment of shareholdings is completed, Athena Foods will begin to cover the results from Minerva's units in Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina, Colombia and Chile.

The company expects the offering to occur within 12 months.

For the second quarter, Minerva saw adjusted EBITDA climb 27% year-over-year to 353.4 million reais, while the EBITDA margin reached 9.5%.

As of Aug. 7, US$1 was equivalent to 3.71 Brazilian reais.