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Company Accelerates Divestment Program to Reduce Billion-Dollar Debt, Sells Deficit Plants and Targets Assets in Argentina While Maintaining Robust Liquidity and Spaced Payment Schedule.
Raízen has accelerated its divestment plan to reduce net debt of R$ 34 billion and simplify its portfolio.
The company has mapped R$ 15 billion in potentially saleable assets, prioritizing operations in Argentina, estimated at US$ 1.5 billion, and a new package of plants in Brazil, where part of the units operate with idleness reaching 30%.
The market expectation is for announcements as early as 2025, while the company discloses, this Wednesday (13), the first balance sheet of the fiscal year 2025/26.
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Divestments Advance and Cash Already Feels Relief
Of everything that has been put on display, just over R$ 3 billion has already entered the cash register, according to InvestNews research.
In distributed generation, the most relevant assets have been sold.
In bioenergy, the company raised more than R$ 2 billion with the sale of the plants MB, Leme, and Santa Elisa, in São Paulo, with the last two still undergoing completion processes.
Executives and stakeholders understand that, at this time, the most viable route for monetization continues to be the exit from deficit units or those misaligned with the design of operational clusters.
Portfolio Under Recalibration: Less Idleness, More Efficiency
After the three transactions already announced, Raízen continues operating 27 units and advances on two fronts: disconnecting from assets where idleness and fixed costs drain cash and also divesting from units that have lost synergy with their regional clusters.
Some negotiations include industry and sugarcane; in others, only agricultural production.
The goal is to increase plant utilization and reduce logistical bottlenecks.
In practice, the liquidity of the assets tends to decrease as the most obvious buyers are served.
“The sale options within the state of São Paulo are decreasing,” says a source in the industry.
Leme and Santa Elisa illustrate the easier phase of this cycle: they were deficit plants but located in regions with strong demand for sugarcane and many potential buyers within a 100-kilometer radius.
Operational Impact: Average Idleness Rate Expected to Decline
With the exit of Leme and Santa Elisa, experts estimate that Raízen’s average idleness will drop from just above 20% to something closer to 18%.
The company does not disclose productivity per plant, but market numbers indicate clusters with idleness over 25%, such as Araraquara and Assis, in areas with less competition — which may reduce the number of interested parties.
Among analysts, the reading is that at least four plants could be sold by the beginning of 2026.
Probable Targets: Mato Grosso do Sul and SP–MG Border
The most cited assets by investors are the two plants in Rio Brilhante and the unit in Caarapó, in Mato Grosso do Sul.
The former operate with idleness close to 30%, while Caarapó has high utilization.
There are also mentions of units on the border between São Paulo and Minas Gerais, where part of the portfolio would make more sense under another controller.
For the assets in Mato Grosso do Sul, market agents see room for buyers linked to corn ethanol, a thesis with which Raízen does not have the same degree of alignment, in a region conducive to the commodity.
Effective Prices vs. Expectations and Cash Flow Impact
However, there has been an adjustment in price expectations.
The initial assessment for plants in the sector ranged between US$ 70 and US$ 100 per ton of crushed cane, but recent transactions have been conducted between US$ 40 and US$ 50 per ton, according to specialized consultancies.
Despite the discount, managers and analysts consider the movement strategic because it removes the need for investments in deficit operations, thereby preserving or even improving cash flow.
Argentina in Focus: The “Big Ticket” of the Round
The divestment package includes operations in Argentina, seen as the most valuable piece of this cycle.
“Argentina is the big ticket, but it’s not a simple check,” says a person close to the process.
The management believes that the sale should occur for a value higher than that paid in 2018, then near US$ 1 billion, with the market speculating at US$ 1.5 billion.
Pricing, however, is challenged by historically lower multiples in refining and by operational risks in the country, such as restrictions on resource shipments, still mentioned by stakeholders even in the current environment.
People knowledgeable about the negotiations mention more than three interested parties in the non-binding proposal phase.
Last week, Agência Estado pointed out Trafigura as one of the potential buyers.
BTG Pactual holds the mandate to lead the sale of Argentine assets.
Convenience Stores: Oxxo Becomes a Sellable Asset
The company’s reading of Grupo Nós — joint venture with Femsa — has also become clearer.
The Oxxo chain, which had expansion projected at 5 thousand stores in Brazil, is now treated as an asset waiting for a buyer.
The sale, however, is seen internally as an item that does not move the dial of deleveraging in the short term, which is why there is not much urgency to conclude this exit.
Direction and Strategy: Focus on Core and Deleveraging
The strategic shift has been publicly reinforced.
“All this asset recycling we are implementing — and will continue to implement — has two main goals. The primary, and most important, is to reduce our indebtedness, but also to seek the simplification of our businesses,” said CEO Nelson Gomes in a results conference in May.
Gomes took over leadership at the end of 2024, coming from the parent company Cosan, and replaced Ricardo Mussa, an executive who led the IPO and an aggressive growth agenda in Brazil and abroad.
The previous management invested about R$ 12 billion per year, with bets on second-generation ethanol, renewable energy assets, and acquisitions in Argentina and Paraguay, in addition to the foray into convenience retail with Oxxo.
According to a professional who monitors the company, “it was a very intense growth agenda, but with high interest rates, it was necessary to look at the quality of the assets and enter a cycle of more value generation.”
Financial Profile: Robust Liquidity and Spaced Debt Schedule
At the end of the fiscal year 2024/25, Raízen reported R$ 34 billion in net debt.
In contrast, it maintained R$ 22.1 billion in cash and highly liquid securities, with only R$ 4.8 billion maturing by December.
This financial cushion provides comfort to negotiate without haste and support the divestment program with an emphasis on price and strategic adherence, according to people close to the company.
The guidance is to be selective: sell what is not essential to the long-term design and avoid transactions the company may regret.
Next Steps: Sales Pace and Market Expectation
While the balance from April to March opens the calendar for the new fiscal year, investors are monitoring the pace of disposals.
The prevailing perception is that new plants should be negotiated as early as 2025 and that the Argentine operation, while more complex, is expected to be resolved by mid-2026, if market conditions allow. The company, when approached, did not comment.
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