Petrobras in talks to sell stake in Guarani to Tereos

Brazil-based oil company Petrobras said it is discussions to sell its stake in sugar and ethanol producer Guarani SA to France’s Tereos Internacional.

Petrobras is planning to sell its 45.9% stake in the company, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The proposed sale is part of Petrobras’ plan to sell certain assets to reduce debt.

The company is planning to sell a total $15.1 billion (€17bn) of assets by the end of this year, and $19.5 billion of assets in 2017-18.

With the ambitious asset-sale plans, it seeks to reduce its ratio of net debt to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization to 2.5 times in 2018; it was 5.3 times at the end of 2015. Petrobras ended the second quarter with total debt of $123.92 billion.