The sale of 37,5% in Brazil's largest fuel distributor confirms that the new CEO is in line with Petrobras' divestments
The Brazilian oil giant plans to get rid of its remaining stake in the BR Distribuidora service station network later this year, and the deal could fill Petrobras' piggy bank with US$1,5 billion, the equivalent of more than €8 billion. real, Reuters told three sources.
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After the rumor circulated on the internet, Petrobras communicated last night to the market that “the moment for launching the offer” for the sale of the stake in BR Distribuidora has not yet been defined. The statement highlights that the sale of its remaining stake of 37,5% will be carried out through a secondary share offering (follow-on), as announced on August 26 last year.
Petrobras also states that the operation is subject to the approval of the company's internal bodies, the Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM) and other regulatory authorities.
Sources informed the Reuters agency that the company is studying the sale of the remaining slice in BR later this year, for around R$ 8 billion.
The total sale of the stake in BR — with the potential to be one of the biggest of the year, and the price policy that follows parity, but avoids transferring the volatility of the oil market to domestic prices, are some of the themes that receive attention from the new president of Petrobras Joaquim Silva e Luna, who this week spent a month in charge of the oil company.
This would be the third largest sale of BR Distribuidora shares
“BR is a big deal and today (that part of Petrobras) is worth more than 10 billion reais,” a third source told Reuters. According to this person, it makes “complete sense” to sell because the share has already surpassed 25 reais, compared to an all-time high of almost 28 reais, in February 2020.
“Petrobras' debt is in dollars and the dollar is falling. So, if you want to pay more dollars, it's better to sell now that the BR has reached one of its highest real values and you have the opportunity to sell and convert to a higher dollar value because the exchange rate has dropped,” he added.
Petrobras' net debt was US$ 58,4 billion at the end of March, compared to US$ 63,2 billion in the previous year. At the end of last year, upon disclosing new information on divestments, the state-owned company's asset sale target increased to US$ 35 billion, starting in 2025, with the inclusion of BR and the petrochemical company Braskem in the program.
Petrobras defines new fuel price strategy to control gasoline and diesel price spikes
Petrobras is already silently adopting a new strategy for gasoline and diesel prices. It has not abandoned price parity, it is just wanting to avoid the rise and fall in fuel prices, which was a hallmark of the previous management, of economist Roberto Castello Branco.
The current president of the company, Joaquim Silva and Luna, who has been in charge of the company for a month, asked the technical areas of the state-owned company to look fondly at the movements of the dollar and the barrel of oil before guiding an upward or downward adjustment in the price of diesel and gasoline.
The idea is that increases or decreases only happen if there is structural justification and cannot be based on conjunctural movements. The understanding is that this rise and fall generates a lot of confusion and, in addition, the increases are always passed on quickly and completely — unlike what happens with the decreases in diesel and gasoline.
