According to a Dow Jones, agribusiness giant Bunge has signed an agreement to buy Brazilian privately held sugarcane company Moema for well over US$1 billion. Dow Jones‘ source is a local Brazilian newswire, Estado. Bunge’s press and investor relations office in the U.S.was unavailable for immediate comment on a deal Estado cited unnamed sources as saying was close to $1.35 billion. Moema is a mid-sized sugar and ethanol milling company.
If Bunge acquired Moema, it would be one more step in further consolidation in Brazil’s sugarcane and ethanol producer industry. In 2007, Bunge acquired a smaller sugarcane mill Santa Juliana and is building two green field projects elsewhere in country. If this latest deal deal goes through, Bunge would have the capacity to mill 13.5 million metric tons of sugarcane annually, resulting in 850 million tons of sugar and 637 million liters (170 million gallons) of fuel ethanol. That would put Bunge within the top five sugar and ethanol players in Brazil, the world’s leading.
Filed under: Biofuels, Ethanol, Investors, Sugarcane, sugar | Tagged: Ethanol, UNICA, Sugarcane, Cosan, Moema, Bunge, Sao Martinho, Guarani, NovAmerica
[...] Bunge set to buy Brazil Sugarcane Mills for $900 Million Posted on December 24, 2009 by sugarcaneblog Agribusiness giant Bunge said it will pay $896 million in stock to Brazil’s Moema sugarcane group. The deal gives Bunge a majority stake in about six mills in Brazil. According to Reuters, “mergers and acquisitions have been gaining momentum in Brazil’s sugar and ethanol sector since the credit crisis hit mills that took on too much debt in past years to leverage their expansion.” Bloomberg says Bunge “may enter agreements to secure the remaining interests in the Moema Group’s mills, bringing the total value of all of the transactions to about $1.48 billion, including $710 million in debt.” Wires report “Moema, 35 percent of which is owned by Brazilian sugar and ethanol tycoon Maurilio Biagi Filho, is also being considered by Brazilian cane milling rivals Cosan , Sao Martinho and Acucar Guarani,” as this blog reported. [...]