Brazil Sugar Mill on Track for H2 IPO

Brazil’s second largest sugar and ethanol company, SantelisaVale, is readying an IPO it hopes to be ready to launch as early as the second half of this year, CEO Anselmo Rodrigues tells LatinFinance. “We are preparing the company so that when the market reopens, we’ll be ready to go,” says Rodrigues, adding that a transaction could take place in the second half. Through a merger with Vale do Rosario last year, Santelisa shot up to the number two spot in Brazil by crushing capacity, behind only Cosan. Bradesco BBI – which wrote a BRL1.35bn check to Santelisa’s main shareholders days before the Vale do Rosario acquisition was signed – is expected to lead the equity offering. The remaining banks are yet to be decided on, says Rodrigues. Goldman Sachs purchased a 19% stake in Santelisa for BRL400m in July 2007.