Brazil’s Raizen, the joint venture between Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Cosan SA, has agreed to buy Biosev SA, the sugar and ethanol unit controlled by Louis Dreyfus, in a cash-and-stock deal, the companies said on Monday.
Raizen will pay 3.6 billion reais ($670.3 million) to Biosev shareholders, who will also receive 3.5% of Raizen preferred shares, plus 1.49% of redeemable shares, it said in a regulatory filing. The company declined to disclose the full purchase price.
After the acquisition, the company will operate 35 mills in Brazil with a sugar cane crushing capacity of 105 million tonnes per year, equivalent to 17% of Brazil’s center-south crop in 2019/20. Biosev and Raizen produced nearly 5 million tonnes of sugar and 3.84 billion liters of ethanol in 2019/20.
Biosev shares were up 6% in Brazil, while shares of Cosan SA, Shell’s partner in the Raizen venture, rose 4.4%.The company said it is in talks with banks to refinance debt of 4.13 billion reais expected to remain after Raizen’s cash payment of 3.6 billion reais.
Read more at: Reuters
