Vibra Energia (formerly BR Distribuidora) and Copersucar established a partnership to operate together selling ethanol through a joint venture. The distributor announced the agreement on the morning of August 30th in a statement to the Brazilian Securities Commission (CVM). The distributor will buy 49.99% of the shares of the Ethanol Trading Company (ECE) of Copersucar for R$4.999 million, which will continue to control the business with a 50.01% stake. When the deal is approved by the regulatory authorities, the two partners will contribute R$ 400 million to the new company, in parts proportional to the ownership of each one. The investment does not include fixed assets. Vibra handles between 6 billion to 6.5 billion liters of ethanol per year, while Copersucar handles 4.5 billion to 5 billion liters between its associated plants. The joint venture will be responsible for the flow of biofuel from the Copersucar plants. It will be able to buy the product from other manufacturers in the domestic market and will sell the ethanol to Vibra and other distributors. The company is also going to import and export ethanol, activities currently carried out by its partners. The deal is subject to approval by CADE (the administrative council for economic defense) and ECE registration with ANP (the national agency for petroleum, natural gas, and biofuels).
Sources: Valor Econômico/Datamar News