Businessman Rubens Ometto, controller of Cosan (), said this Monday that the extrajudicial recovery process of Raízen (), with R$65 billion in debt, “is going very well”.
The sugar and ethanol manufacturer and fuel distributor, which controls the Shell-branded gas station network, requested extrajudicial recovery in March. This month, it reached an agreement with the most relevant creditors, which account for 80.15% of the total.
The plan converts 45% of the debt into equity. Today, Cosan and the Anglo-Dutch oil company Shell each have 44% of Raizen. The remaining 12% is in the hands of minority shareholders.
The remaining 55% of the debt will be refinanced as new debt, as the company informed in a relevant fact. There will also be “the implementation of additional structural measures, including asset segregation, advancement of the divestment agenda and corporate reorganizations”. Shell will invest another R$3.5 billion in the company, and Ometto has the option to invest directly (not via Cosan) another R$500 million.
Raízen was created as a joint venture (partnership) between Cosan, a traditional sugar and ethanol producer in Ometto, and Shell, after the Brazilian company purchased, in the early 2000s, the fuel distributor and the station network with the extinct Esso brand, which marked ExxonMobil’s exit from this segment in Brazil.
With a heavy investment plan in the production of second-generation ethanol, produced from straw cellulose and sugarcane bagasse, and not just juice, Raízen ended up in trouble due to excessive debt.
— The company is very good, very strong, generates cash, is organized, there are no scams. It has a capital structure problem that is being resolved — Ometto told journalists, after participating in an event celebrating BNDES’ 74th anniversary, at the bank’s headquarters in Rio.
Ometto confirmed that the restructuring will include the separation of Raízen’s two main business units: sugar and ethanol manufacturing on the one hand, fuel distribution on the other:
— That’s the idea, to separate the energy generation part from the fuel distribution. It is strategic because investors’ thinking is different. When we did that, we wanted verticalization and complementation. What we notice today is that, among market investors, there are those who prefer distribution and there are those who prefer energy.
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The businessman also denied his remuneration as member and president of Raízen’s Board of Directors. This Monday, GLOBO columnist Lauro Jardim reported that, in the restructuring plan, the company wanted to cut Ometto’s remuneration of R$90 million per year.
