Brazil’s Cosan eyes ethanol expansion in US and Brazil

November 30, 2007

In Brazil, the CFO of Cosan said that the company is seeking acquisitions to add to its portfolio of 17 ethanol plants, and included a focus on investment in the US.

He said the company’s $1 billion IPO, completed last year, provided the necessary growth capital for the company, which derives 33 percent of its revenue from ethanol production.

In Brazil, Petrobras, the state oil company and Cosan, have locked horns over a Petrobras plan to build a state-owned pipeline to transport ethanol. “If Petrobras has the logistics, it will have control of the sector and this we don’t want,” said Rubens Ometto Silveira Mello, Cosan’s controlling shareholder and chief executive officer, told Agencia Estado. The proposed ethanol pipeline will run from Goias state to Sao Paulo.

The state pipeline will be financed by the Japan Bank of International Cooperation, and the Inter-American Development Bank. Petrobras’ has planned a second pipeline from Goias to Paranagua, a major commodities port.