Brazilian state-owned oil company Petrobras will sell a 90% stake in Nova Transportadora do Sudeste (NTS), its gas distribution subsidiary in southern Brazil, to a consortium led by Brookfield Asset Management (Canada) for US$5.2bn.
Negotiations were concluded in early September 2016 and Brookfield Infrastructure Partners, CIC Capital Corp. and GIC Private approved the acquisition in late September 2016. NTS operates around 2,050 km of gas distribution networks in the most populated and industrialised states in Brazil. The transaction will need to be approved by Petrobras' shareholders and by Brazilian regulators.
In addition, Petrobras may have to shut down its TermoCeara power plant and its related LNG import terminal in Pecém in the Ceara state of Brazil, due to problems related to the LNG terminal and turbines at the power plant. The group acquired the 219 MW Termoceara gas-fired power plant from MPX in 2005 for US$137m and commissioned the 2.5 bcm/year Pecém floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) in 2009. In May 2016, the company put these assets for sale but technical problems incited Petrobras to filed to the oil regulator ANP to use the LNG terminal for other purposes; the terminal could then be stopped.
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