Board Approval Granted To Sell A Stake In NTS Pipeline Unit By Brazil's Petrobras
State-owned Brazilian Petrobras, has gained government approval to sell its remaining 10% stake in the country’s natural gas pipeline operator, Nova Transportadora do Sudeste (NTS), for $337m (BRL1.8bn).
NTS owns and operates a 2,000 km pipeline network with capacity to transport around 158.2 million m³/d of natural gas. The NTS pipeline network operates in the south eastern states of Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerai and São Paulo and connects to the Brasil-Bolivia pipeline, the TAG transportation network as well as to the Baía de Guanabara LNG regasification terminal and to natural gas processing plants.
Petrobras’s final 10% stake in NTS was bought by Nova Infraestrutura Gasodutos Participações, which is itself owned by fund management company Brookfield Brasil Asset Management Investimentos and Itaúsa. Petrobras will receive BRL1.5bn for its 10 % stake following dividend payments and contract adjustments.
As noted in the Petrobras press statement, “Considering the discount of dividends, interest on equity and restitution through capital reduction received by Petrobras throughout 2020 and 2021 and the other adjustments provided for in the contract as per the base date, it is estimated that the cash inflow is $2768m (BRL$1.5bn), to be paid in full on the date of the signing and closing of the transaction.”