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Cosan discharges Vale stake to lower financial obligation, blames high rates of interest

Brazilian conglomerate Cosan has actually sold some 173 million shares it owned in Vale, it stated on Thursday, dumping a stake that made it a crucial shareholder of the mining giant as it looks to reduce financial obligation.

Cosan, which did not divulge monetary information, stated in a. securities filing that its decision to sell the stake of approximately. 4.05% in Vale was based exclusively on the goal of enhancing its. capital structure.

According to a source familiar with the transaction, Cosan. raised around 9 billion reais ($ 1.5 billion) with the sale,. permitting it to decrease its financial obligation by 40% to some 14 billion reais.

Cosan first purchased in late 2022 a 4.9% stake in Vale,. which has a dispersed ownership, in a 21 billion-real offer. The. corporation had formerly offered about 33 million shares as part. of its deleveraging strategy.

Cosan Chairman Rubens Ometto, who in October said the. company was not aiming to unload its Vale stake in the brief. term, highlighted that the move was related to Brazil's high. interest rates.

Vale is an extraordinary possession and I have a great deal of. confidence in the brand-new management, Ometto said in a statement,. describing a recent management swap in which Gustavo Pimenta. was called president.

However, the present level of interest rates forces us to. reduce Cosan's utilize ratio.

Brazil's benchmark rates of interest currently stands at 12.25%,. and the reserve bank has signaled it ought to reach a more than. eight-year high of 14.25% as early as March as it tightens. monetary policy to fight inflation.

Financiers invited Cosan's move.

Shares of the conglomerate - which manages logistics firm. Rumo, lubes business Moove, gas firm. Compass and shares control of Raizen with Shell. - increased as much as 8.6% before paring some gains.

In spite of costing a loss, we would see this transaction as. positive, as it would deliver a strong discipline message - that. is, focus on leverage, refocus strategy on their integrated. energy platform, analysts at J.P. Morgan said.

Vale shares, on the other hand, were up 0.4%. Goldman Sachs experts. said investors had actually just recently been focused on Cosan's capacity. stake sale as a source of overhang.

(source: Reuters)