Brazil's Natura poaches Embraer CFO

Brazilian cosmetics company Natura Cosmeticos SA poached the chief financial officer of Embraer SA on Tuesday, reinforcing its more global profile and draining senior talent from the planemaker in tie-up talks with Boeing Co, according to securities filings from the companies.

José Antonio Filippo, who joined Embraer as CFO in 2012, will become CFO at Natura, the cosmetics company said in its filing. Natura’s chief executive officer, João Paulo Brotto Ferreira, has been serving in the CFO role since the unexpected departure in February of José Roberto Lettiere.

Filippo, who previously served as CFO of homebuilder Gafisa SA and retailer GPA SA, will take up his new post at Natura on May 21, the cosmetics company said.

Natura’s acquisitions of The Body Shop and Australian brand Aesop in recent years have vastly expanded its global footprint. Credit Suisse analysts speculated in February that Lettiere’s exit was part of an effort to find a more international CFO.

Filippo’s departure from Embraer comes as the company’s talks with Boeing are edging closer to a potential deal to hand off control of its commercial aircraft operations to the U.S. aerospace company, Reuters reported last week.

Embraer said in its filing on Tuesday that veteran executive Nelson Salgado will take over as CFO. In three decades at the company, he has risen through the ranks of engineers to run planning, strategy and external affairs in recent years.