BRF SA CEO Pedro Parente will resign by mid-2019, just months after the former Petróleo Brasileiro SA - Petrobras executive assumed the position, Reuters reported Oct. 8.

Lorival Luz, COO of the chicken producer, will succeed Parente, who will remain as the chairman of BRF. The transition is projected to conclude in the middle of 2019.

Parente came to the company after a protest by trucking workers crippled a number of BRF's facilities due to a shortage of raw materials.

The company plans to conclude, by 2018-end, the sale of some of its assets in Argentina, Europe and Thailand that came as part of a sweeping overhaul by Parente with a goal to raise about $1.33 billion, according to the report.

BRF reportedly has a dozen bidders for the assets but without any binding offers. However, a source with knowledge of the matter told the news agency that Cargill Inc., Japan's NH Foods Ltd. and Thailand's Charoen Pokphand Foods PCL, also known as CP Foods Global, are among the bidders for BRF's Thai assets.

For its Argentine assets, the meat producer is looking to draw in local firms for a sale, Reuters reported.

BRF, which hopes to hit historic margins by 2020 and increase them further from 2021, is looking to strengthen its halal meat portfolio and target Middle Eastern markets such as Saudi Arabia as part of that strategy, Patricio Rohner, BRF's vice president for halal markets, reportedly said.

The company has been mired in a food safety probe that led to the arrest of former CEO Pedro Faria. It hopes to end a ban by the EU impacting 12 of its plants as part of its business targets, Reuters reported.