Brazil’s Cosan acquires minority stake in America Latina Logistica for $523 mn

Cosan SA Industria e Comercio, Brazil's largest and the world's fifth-largest producer of ethanol, yesterday acquired a 5.66-per cent stake in logistics company America Latina Logistica SA (ALL) for 896.5 million Brazilian reais ($523 million).

São Paulo-based Cosan will acquire 38.98 million shares in the logistic company from shareholders Riccardo Arduini, Julia Dora Koranyi Arduini and Global Market Investments by paying a 104 per cent premium to ALL's closing price of 10.33 reais on 22 February.

ALL, Latin America's largest railroad company, operates railway lines in Brazil and Argentina and provides services such as logistics, transportation, port operations and general storage.

Founded in 1997 and based in Curitiba, ALL operates a fleet of 1,060 locomotives and 31,000 rail cars on 21,300km of tracks between Argentina and the southern Brazilian states of São Paulo, Mato Grosso del Sur, Paraná, Santa Catarina, and Rio Grande do Sul.

It provides logistics services, transportation services terminal and storages, and handles bulk and manufactured goods.

Cosan, the $10.2 billion Brazilian conglomerate, is a producer of bioethonal, sugar, and energy. It jointly controls the world's largest sugar-cane processor with Royal Dutch Shell.

The acquisition will strengthen Cosan's logistics arm Rumo Logistica, which provides transportation, storage and product shipment services.

In early 2010, Cosan and Shell formed a joint venture called Raizen, which combined their operations of sugar, ethanol and the distribution and marketing of fuels in Brazil. Raizen, valued at $12 billion, is the third largest distribution company in Brazil and the world's largest bioenergy company.