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Brazilian Pair Completes Rede Buy

Brazil’s CPFL Energia and Equatorial Energia have agreed to takeover Rede Energia and carry out needed investments at the struggling electricity holdco, the parties say. In the deal, CPFL and Equatorial pay BRL1.00 ($0.48) to buy the stake owned by controller Jorge Queiroz de Moraes, and have committed to make overdue regulatory payments, pay off short-term debt and reduce leverage, among other investments. Rede’s total needs have been estimated at BRL770m. The pair had initially signed a letter of understanding with Rede in October, following Equatorial’s purchase of Rede’s Centrais Eletricas do Para (Celpa) unit in September. Rede filed for bankruptcy protection last month.

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Bancolombia Enters Guatemala

Bancolombia has agreed to pay $216m for a 40% stake in Grupo Agromercantil Holding, which owns Guatemala’s Banco Agromercantil bank and other financial institutions, Bancolombia says. The Colombian lender, present in Central America already through Banco Agricola, says the agreement leaves the possibility to increase the minority stake in the Panama-based holdco into a controlling one in the “medium term.” Agromercantil’s total assets are $2.23bn. The deal is subject to regulatory approval in Colombia, Guatemala and Panama. Bancolombia did not use external advisors, according to a company source.

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Petrobras Takes Vale Fertilizer Plant

Petrobras has agreed to buy 100% of the Araucaria Nitrogenados fertilizer plant from Vale, it says, for $234m. The state-controlled oil producer will pay the miner using the revenues from the leasing of mining rights owned by Petrobras to Vale. Petrobras says the plant, located in the state of Parana is complementary to its existing fertilizer production assets. The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals.

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Sao Martinho Buys Mill from Biosev

Sao Martinho has agreed to buy a sugar processing mill from fellow Brazilian Biosev, Sao Martinho says, for BRL200m ($95m). The deal includes the sale of the Sao Carlos mill, with a 1.85m ton annual crushing capacity, and an adjacent sugar-cane planted area. Also, Sao Martinho will supply 1m tons of sugarcane in the first year of operation. Biosev, a unit of Louis Dreyfuss, has been seeking to focus on operating plants with higher capacity.

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Slim Adds Spanish Properties

Carlos Slim is not done acquiring assets from struggling Europeans, agreeing to buy a package of properties from Spain’s CaixaBank for EUR428m ($571m), CaixaBank says. The billionaire’s Inmobiliaria Carso entity has bought the 439 properties under a sale leaseback transaction and will lease them back to the Catalan lender under a long-term agreement. Caixa sees a EUR200m pre-tax gain from the sale.

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Gruma Buys Stake from ADM

Mexico’s Gruma has purchased a $450m package of its shares and shares in its subsidiaries from Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), it says. The deal is the result of Gruma acting on a right of first refusal to block an offer made last month by Mexican businessman Fernando Chico Pardo. The package includes a 23.2% stake in Gruma, as well as minority positions in its units Azteca Milling, Molinera de Mexico and three Venezuelan units. An additional $60m could be paid to ADM depending on the share price performance as well as other factors over the next 3.5 years. To fund the purchase, Gruma has signed a 1-year $400m bridge loan led by Goldman Sachs, and a long-term revolver from Bank of America Merrill Lynch. It plans to refinance the debt within a year. Bank of America Merrill Lynch advised ADM, which has been unloading assets in order to pursue a AUD2.7bn ($2.8bn) offer for Australia’s GrainCorp.

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