Brazil’s Biggest Pension Fund Turns Into a $50 Billion Activist

Previ, Brazil’s biggest pension fund, sent a letter in February demanding BRF Chairman Abilio Diniz convene a shareholder meeting to remove the entire board, including himself. After a two-month fight, Previ got its way: Investors voted in five new directors and replaced Diniz with Pedro Parente, who’s credited with turning around the country’s state-owned oil company, Petroleo Brasileiro SA. “BRF kept showing successive results that were a concern for us as shareholders,” Gueitiro Matsuo Genso, Previ’s chief executive officer, said in an interview in Sao Paulo.