Private equity firm IG4 concludes acquisition of grain terminal in Brazil
SAO PAULO, Dec 23 (Reuters) - Private equity fund IG4 on Wednesday concluded the acquisition of Brazilian logistics company CLI, which operates one of the country's largest grain terminals in the northern port of Itaqui as part of a consortium.
The deal is valued at roughly $240 million, including the acquisition of debt from CLI's controlling shareholder, CGG Trading, which was converted into equity, and some debt restructuring.
CGG Trading's creditors were Banco Bradesco SA BBDC4.SA, Banco Votorantim, Banco Santander Brasil, Banco do Brasil SA, Rabobank, ABN Amro, Bank of China, Credit Suisse and Metlife Inc, the fund said.
The Tegram terminal, in the Brazilian state of Maranhao, is one of the largest used for soybean and soybean meal exports coming from the northern states. Besides CLI, it also has as partners Glencore, Amaggi and Louis Dreyfus Company, among others.
Helcio Tokeshi, a managing director at IG4, will take the helm of CLI as CEO. Among his goals is to increase usage at the terminal, which has just doubled its storage capacity to 15 million tonnes of soy, he said in an interview.
IG4 funded the purchase with the proceeds from its second infrastructure fund, which raised $231.5 milion to focus on special opportunities in Latin America.
The move by IG4 comes as Brazil's 2019/20 soy crop beat a record of 124.8 million tonnes and the 2020/21 crop is expected to be even bigger.
(Reporting by Carolina Mandl; additional reporting by Roberto Samora; editing by Richard Pullin)
