Itausa offering $850mn for Petrobras ‘gas unit’

Bloomberg

A group led by Brazil’s Itausa Investimentos SA offered about $850 million for Petrobras’s bottled gas distributor. Petrobras said in a filing that Itausa, the holding company for Setubal and Villela families, in a consortium with Copagaz Distribuidora de Gas Ltda and Nacional Gas Butano, offered highest bid for Liquigas Distribuidora SA.
The supplier of liquefied petroleum gas for cooking to about 35 million homes is one of the assets put on the block by Petroleo Brasileiro SA, as the state-controlled oil producer is officially known, in an effort to cut debt and focus on
deep-water exploration.
Bottled LPG is the only source of cooking gas for millions of consumers in Brazil. Liquigas has 22% of the market, trailing rival Cia. Ultragaz SA’s 24% share, according to Brazil’s petroleum regulator.
Itausa Chief Executive Officer Alfredo Setubal said in February that the firm was “looking at all the Petrobras privatizations.”