By Lise Alves, Senior Contributing Reporter
SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL – Brazil’s oil giant, Petrobras, announced on Wednesday (November 17th) that its Board of Directors has approved the sale of its subsidiary, Liquigás Distribuidora S.A., to Brazil’s Ultragaz S.A. for the purchasing price of approximately R$2.8 billion.
“At the beginning when we announced that we were going to make this divestment came out some news reporting that the sale would be for R$1.5 billion. Now we sell for almost double. So we are all very pleased with the results of this divestment,” said Manager of Petrobras’ Acquisitions and Divestments manager, Anelise Quintão during a teleconference with reporters on Thursday night.
The transaction, according to the oil giant, will still be subject to the approval of the general assembly meetings at both Petrobras and Ultrapar (Ultragáz’s parent company) and the approval by Brazil’s anti-trust agency, Conselho Administrativo de Defesa Economica (CADE). The exact value of the sale is also uncertain.
The amount will also be subject to adjustments due to changes in working capital and the net debt position of Liquigás between December 31, 2015 and the transaction’s closing date, noted the Petrobras official.
The sale of Liquigás is part of the Petrobras’ 2015-2016 Divestment Plan that calls for disinvestments of US$15.1 billion during the two years. “2015 was a difficult year. We accomplished a very small part of this goal and in 2016, fortunately, we have been able to carry out a series of divestments and partnerships. Today, with the sale of Liquigás, we reached nearly US$11 billion of our goal,” she concluded.
Ultragaz is the largest liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) distributor in Brazil, serving more than eleven million households. The Petrobras subsidiary, Liquigás operates in the bottling, distribution and sale of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) operating in almost all Brazilian states. The company counts on 23 operational centers, nineteen warehouses, and a network of approximately 4,800 authorized resellers.