Singapore-listed Noble Group buys sugar mill in Brazil for 70 mln usd |
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Published
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Thu, 08 Feb 2007 06:25
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SINGAPORE (AFX) - Noble Group, a Hong Kong-based global supply chain manager of agricultural, industrial and energy products, said it has agreed to buy Usina Petribu Paulista Ltd, a sugar mill company in Brazil, for 70 mln usd.The mill, located in Sao Paulo, has a total crushing capacity of 2 mln tons of sugar cane and capable of producing both sugar and ethanol.Noble said the mill has been designed for an easy upgrade to 4 mln tons of sugar cane crushing capacity within a short period of time, or 600,000 tons of sugar or 88 mln gallons of ethanol annually.It said it will invest up to 200 mln usd in the mill over the next few years to expand its annual crushing capacity to up 10 mln metric tons of cane.As part of the same transaction, Noble will also acquire Meridiano, a company which owns land and various relevant licenses.'This is a strategic investment for Noble in Brazil, the world's lowest cost producing country for both sugar and alcohol and the biggest sugar producer and exporter in the world,' Noble Group chief operating officer Ricardo Leiman said.'These assets form part of our global ethanol network where we have assets and distribution in the US, ethanol processing operations in the Caribbean, and physically move 10 pct of Brazilian ethanol exports. We continue to look into expanding our sugar and ethanol investments in Brazil and globally.'(1 usd = 1.53 sgd)singapore@xfn.comxfnjb1/xfnzr
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