Businessman Carlos Suarez, from OAS, has an agreement to keep Petrobras’ gas assets

​Businessman Carlos Suarez, one of the founders of the group specializing in infrastructure OAS, is the final buyer of Petrobras’ assets in the gas sector. The sale is being analyzed by Cade (Administrative Council for Economic Defense), but his name is not mentioned in the process.

The documents filed with the antitrust agency inform that Gaspetro (from Petrobras) will be sold to Compass (from the Cosan group). But, as reported to SheetSuarez already has an agreement with Cosan to keep part of the assets traded.

Suarez has a minority stake in the five companies being transacted. They are Cebgas (DF), Gasap (AP), Gaspisa (PI), Goiasgás (GO) and Rongás (RO).

Only Cebgas is operational, and the others are paper companies whose main asset is the concession to explore gas in the states. These companies can benefit from a pipeline construction subsidy program that is articulated in Congress.

The combined operation between Cosan and Suarez is necessary because Gaspetro decided to sell in a package only the stakes it has in 18 regional gas distribution companies. Petrobras’ objective is to get more money for the assets, since in the lot there are companies considered valuable and others that are not operational.

The sale of the assets by Petrobras was agreed with Cade in an agreement signed in 2019 with the oil company. In it, the company committed to divest its stakes in regional companies – which would reduce its presence in all links in the sector’s chain.

Compass took the package, but has already warned that it does not want to keep all of them. The company said in two market announcements that it already had agreements to sell 12 subsidiaries in two different lots, one with seven shares and the other with five. Termogas, Suarez’s holding company, is the company that will buy the lot of five.

The president of Termogas, José Garcez, confirmed the operation. “Now, with Compass buying, I will exercise my right of preference in the distributors in which we are partners”, he told Sheet. When contacted, Compass declined to comment on the matter.

On July 28, 2021, Petrobras issued a notice to the market regarding the sale of Gaspetro to Compass. In it, he reaffirmed that he would observe the right of preference of partners in state companies.

“Until closing [do negócio]Petrobras will comply with the provisions contained in the Gaspetro and natural gas distributors’ shareholders’ agreements, including preemptive rights, as applicable,” he said.

The deal with Compass will not be Termogas’ first move in the direction of Petrobras’ assets. Suarez’s holding already acquired in August last year Gaspetro’s stake in Gasmar, in Maranhão. As a result, he now holds 73.5% of the company’s capital.

In November, he went to Cebgas, from the Federal District. After the deal, Suarez held 51% of the company’s share capital.

The sale of Gaspetro to Compass was approved by Cade’s general superintendence, but the administrative court of the antitrust authority decided to have the final word on the case. With that, the seven councilors of the autarchy will decide the future of the business.

The ANP (Agência Nacional do Petróleo) has already positioned itself against the operation because it believes that the sale to Compass goes against the objective of opening the sector. This is because Cade asked for the sale of Gaspetro to reduce verticalization (when a company commands several stages of the chain). For the ANP, the sale to Compass maintains the problem.

The agency appealed against the approval, which had never happened before. In addition to the ANP, three sector associations took a stand against the operation.

Thus, Compass’ move to announce that it has buyers for part of the assets it is acquiring is an attempt by the company to make it possible to approve the deal with Cade, which has until July to decide whether or not to authorize the operation.

Even if the sale is denied, Termogas has the possibility of keeping the assets. That’s because, in this case, Petrobras will have to sell the subsidiaries one by one – which still gives Suarez the chance to acquire the assets he wants in retail.