Petrobrás Vende Ativos na Argentina!

Para contornar a crise financeira estãao vendendo tudo, cortaram até as "festinhas" de fim do último ano. Um amigo me disse, sábado, que tomaram os celulares dos gerentes e supervisores além de bloquear a ligação de telefone fixo da estatal para celular.

 

É, amigos, está feia a coisa por lá!

 

Brazil's Petrobras to Open Bids for Argentina Unit Monday - 

 

Source

by Jeff Fick   Dow Jones Newswires

January 11, 2013

 BUENOS AIRES

Brazilian state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA (PBR, PETR4.BR) will open bids Monday from investors competing to buy the assets of its Petrobras Argentina SA (PZE, PESA.BA) subsidiary, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Petrobras, as the company is known, said last month it had put some of its Argentine assets up for sale to focus on developing Brazil's massive offshore oil fields.

Grupo Indalo, owned by Argentine businessman Cristobal Lopez, has made an offer for more than 50% of Petrobras Argentina's assets, the person said.

Petrobras declined to comment on the situation.

In December, Petrobras Chief Executive Maria das Gracas Foster told O Globo newspaper that the company's exploration and production assets in Argentina were a "priority" for the Brazilian company.

"Negotiations about the other activities make up part of Petrobras Argentina's divestment plan," Ms. Foster said.

Petrobras Argentina's New York-traded shares ended Friday down 4.8% at $4.93, valuing the company around $1 billion. Petrobras' ADSs were 0.7% lower at $19.87 for a market capitalization of about $129 billion.

Last month, Argentine newspaper La Nacion reported that Petrobras had hired Scotiabank Brasil to handle the sale of its Argentine assets. La Nacion said four Argentine companies--state-run YPF SA (YPF, YPFD.BA), Tecpetrol, Pluspetrol and Bridas--were in talks with Petrobras to buy its local assets.

In 2011, Petrobras Argentina sold a refinery and most of its distribution business to a company owned by Mr. Lopez, Oil Combustibles SA, for $110 million.

Petrobras holds a 67.2% stake in Petrobras Argentina, while the remainder is traded in New York and Buenos Aires, according to information on the company's website.

Petrobras Argentina's assets include an electric utility, a refining business and oil and gas fields in five provinces, including the shale-gas-rich Neuquen Province.

In recent years, speculation has been rife that Petrobras Argentina would sell its stake in power distributor Edesur SA.

Argentina's government has kept electricity rates largely frozen since the 2002 economic crisis, which has pushed utilities like Edesur to the brink of financial collapse.

--Jeff Fick in Brazil contributed to this article.

Write to Taos Turner at taos.turner@dowjones.com
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