Brasil Econômico reports on movements in the Brazilian in the invariably compelling sugarcane industry, dominated by dark horse Coopersucar and odds-on favorite Cosan.
Fitch Ratings has today — 24 Janurary — reaffirmed the rating assigned to Cosan, and Cosan subsidiaries Cosan Combustíveis e Lubrificantes; Cosan Overseas Limited; Cosan Lubrificantes e Especialidades; CCL Finance Limited; and Cosan Finance Limited should be affected by the agreement under which railroad concessionaire América Latina Logística (ALL) will buy shares in the company.
This week, Cosan announced it will acquire 5,67% of the oustanding shares in ALL, for BRL 896.5 billion.
Fitch assigns ALL an Issuer Default Rating, based on domestic and foreign currency of “BB-” and a long-term rating of “A(bra)”.
Applying the same measures, Cosan is rated at BB+ and “AA-(bra)”.
When the deal closes, Cosan will own 49% of the controlling bloc in ALL.
The deal awaits approval by other parties to the shareholder agreement governing this bloc and for regulatory approval by the national transporation agency, ANTT, and the federal antitrust authority Cade.
According to a company statement, Cosan should not experience significant changes on account of the deal, which will be paid in cash with company assets and|or any financial investors that might join the deal.
The acquisição of a stake in ALL will strengthen Cosan’s presence in the logsitics sector, in which it currently operates through Rumo Logística, with which it has a contract for transportation of in place not expiring until 2028.
Cosan and Eike Batista logistics division LLX were up on the news.
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Istoé Dinheiro joins in with coverage of its own.
Sugarcane distillery owner Rubens Ometto is alway good for a surprise. On February 21, while Brazil was in full Carnaval party mode, he proved this point, writing a check for R$ 896.5 milhões in exchange for 5.7% of América Latina Logística (ALL).
With that, he becomes the largest shareholder in the controlling bloc, with 49.5% of the shares with a right to vote on company policy.
Ometto paid quite a price for the engineer’s cap: BRL 23 per share, a premium of more than 100% over its market price on February 17.
Rival Coopersucar was obliged to cancel its IPO set for the third quarter of last year, due to the financial crisis, it said.
The IPO plan, which called for a primary followed by a secondary offer, was estimated to be worth up to BRL 2.7 billion, making.it the largest offering of the year.
Deal coordinators — Itaú BBA (lead), Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs — set a price of between BRL 14.50 and BRL 18.50 a share.
Copersucar is the third Brazilian company forced to suspend a public offering this month. Oil and gas company Perenco and Tereos, sugarcane and biofuel, also bowed out to await more propitious circumstances.
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Filed under: Agribusiness
