The government Bahian studies have already begun to sell up to 100% of its new stake in Bahiagás even before concluding the purchase of Gaspetro’s stake in the piped gas.
The state infrastructure secretary, Marcus Cavalcanti, estimates, by the end of July, the liquidation of the 340 million reais that will be paid to Compass for the increase from 51% to 75.5% of voting shares, and from 17 % to 58.5% in the company’s total capital.
“But this period depends on why Compass will still have to take over the administration of Gaspetro, which involves appointing directors, directors, etc. So, we will have this bureaucratic hiatus of the transfer of control”, said Cavalcanti.
Bahiagás is one of the 12 piped gas distributors that the Cosan group company has committed to selling, out of a total of 18 that it now holds with the acquisition of 51% of Petrobras (PETR4) at Gaspetro.
The transaction was approved without restrictions last week by the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (Cade).
According to Cavalcanti, the government’s technical department will decide whether the State should partially or totally dispose of its participation in the business.
“We buy not by ideological decision. The company was already state owned. It doesn’t change anything. What we saw was an opportunity. I bought it for a good price to sell it for a better price. This figure, BRL 540 million, is lower than our assessment,” said the secretary, without detailing the government’s current assessment of the company’s value.
Supply
Bahiagás’ figures show a turnaround in the business mainly based on the diversification of its supplier base, in the wake of the opening of the gas market in the country.
The distributor moved from being 86% dependent on Petrobras for supply to a contract that today meets around 15% of the total volume that the company needs. Galp tops the list of 10 suppliers (24%), followed by Shell.
Cavalcanti says that the diversified supply has brought an average savings of 25% in contracts in relation to the price charged by Petrobras.
“Today, our most valuable molecule – I won’t say more expensive because everyone knows how to value it – is Petrobras. We have contracts with prices that are up to 35% below those of Petrobras”, said the secretary.
Bahiagás serves approximately 67,000 users in 22 cities in Bahia. The distributor purchases, on average, 3.7 million cubic meters of natural gas per day for the industrial, automotive, commercial and residential segments.
The company projects a net profit of 154.2 million reais for this year, 31.6% above the 117.2 million recorded in 2021.
Source: Moneytimes
I am an author at Global happenings and I mostly cover automobile news. In my time working in the automotive industry, I have developed a keen interest in the latest developments and trends. My writing skills have also allowed me to share my knowledge with others through articles and blog posts.
