01/15/2009 10h36
Cosan targets acquisition of lands and new plants
Valor Econômico - 01/15/2009
The Cosan group, the largest individual sugarcane processing company of the world, is about to conclude the first acquisition of lands by means of its company of rural real estate investments, Radar. The sugar and alcohol company, which broke a new record of production in this 2008/09 harvest, also analyses the purchase of plants. Founded in August of last year, Radar is a company of the group in partnership with an American investment fund for the acquisition of agricultural areas. The interest of Cosan in lands arose when the company decided to make investments in "Greenfield" projects (construction from zero) in Goiás, about two years ago, and it realized the market of agricultural lands was overheated. Radar first acquisition shall be a property of almost 20 thousand hectares in São Paulo, in the central region of the State. The acquisition of plants in operation ("Brownfield") is also within the sight of the giant. The group analyses a set of ten units at the moment, but nothing has been closed yet. In an interview to Valor, Pedro Mizutani, General Vice-President of the group, said Cosan studies good business opportunities, since the prices of assets (plants) fell in the last months with the global financial crisis. "The group created an M&A division [mergers and acquisitions] to analyze business opportunities", affirmed Mizutani. According to him, there are studies for plants in São Paulo, the largest producer of the country, and outside the State, like in Minas Gerais and Goiás, for example.
