SAO PAULO – Brazil’s J&F, which controls meatpacking giant JBS, said it was selling the company that owns iconic flip-flop maker Havaianas to a group led by investment firm Cambuhy for 3.5 billion reais ($1.09 billion).

Cambuhy, which is owned by the Moreira Sales family, asset manager Brasil Warrant and the Itausa investment fund will take control of Alpargatas.

The deal requires regulatory approval, J&F said in a statement.

J&F has an 86 percent stake in Alpargatas, which owns the Topper sports brand and manufactures products for Mizuno and other brands in Brazil.

JBS is mired in the corruption scandal that threatens to bring down Brazilian President Michel Temer.

J&F acquired control of Alpargatas for 2.67 billion reais (about $808 million) from construction company Camargo Correa in 2015 as part of an effort to diversify its business portfolio.

J&F is controlled by the Batista brothers, who recently told authorities that they had paid bribes to hundreds of politicians, including Temer.

In an interview published on June 17, JBS co-owner Joesley Batista alleged that Temer headed up Brazil’s biggest and most dangerous mafia.

Temer “is the head of the criminal organization that operates in the Chamber (of Deputies),” Brazil’s lower house of Congress, Batista told the Epoca weekly.

Batista said a mafia of politicians had continually demanded that he pay bribes and make illegal donations to election campaigns; in return, his companies received favors or were allowed to operate unhindered.

On June 20, JBS said it planned to sell assets worth 6 billion reais ($1.82 billion).

Among the assets included in the divestment plan are a 19.2 percent interest in dairy company Vigor Alimentos, a stake in Britain’s Moy Park, one of Europe’s largest meat processors, and an interest in Five Rivers Cattle Feeding, JBS said.

The assets are being divested to bolster the balance sheet, the meatpacking giant said.

JBS recently sold its meatpacking operations in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay to Brazil’s Minerva for about $300 million.