BP, Bunge to sell Brazil sugar and ethanol venture – report

SAO PAULO (Reuters) -British oil major BP and U.S. commodities trader Bunge Ltd have put their Brazilian sugar and ethanol joint venture BP Bunge Bioenergia up for sale, newspaper Valor Economico reported on Tuesday.

Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala and Brazilian energy company Raizen SA – a joint venture of Shell and Cosan SA – were among those interested to buy the company, said the report, citing sources familiar with the matter.

JPMorgan will advise BP Bunge on the deal, Valor said, adding that the company’s assets were valued at between 9 billion and 10 billion reais ($1.96 billion).

In a statement sent to Reuters, Bunge reiterated it was assessing options to exit its participation in the sugar and bioenergy joint venture, as previously disclosed by the company, but did not provide details on how that could happen.

“While we are pleased with how the business is performing, it is not core to our overall business strategy,” Bunge said.

BP, Raizen and JPMorgan declined to comment, while Mubadala did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

BP and Bunge’s deal to create the 50-50 joint venture, managing 11 plants with a total capacity to crush 32 million tonnes of sugarcane per year, was first announced in 2019.

($1 = 5.1110 reais)

(Reporting by Gabriel Araujo; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Bernadette Baum)