São Paulo – The Brazilian executive Eike Batista is in talks with Abu Dhabi’s sovereign fund Mubadala to sell interests in four of his companies, according to a communiqué submitted by said companies to Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM) between Monday evening (18) and this Tuesday morning (19). Batista is selling stakes in the mining and metals company MMX Mineração e Metálicos; the marine infrastructure and shipbuilding company OSX Brasil; coal company CCX Carvão, in Colombia; and the oil and gas exploration and production business OGpar.
The executive is in talks to sell 21.04% of his shares in MMX, 28.79% of OSX, 26.45% of CCX and 11.47% of OGpar. In documents sent by Batista to his companies and submitted to the CVM, he claims the deals are being discussed “within the context of the restructuring of investment by Mubadala Development Company in the EBX conglomerate.” EBX was the holding company that controlled Batista’s businesses.
Batista also claims he signed binding agreements on Friday (15) establishing the future structure of the business, including clauses for negotiations involving the companies. He also asserts in his communiqués that whether the deals will go through hinges on the “meeting of certain preconditions which are commonplace in this type of deal.”
Eike Batista rose to the position of being the 8th richest man in the world in 2012, with an estimated wealth of USD 34 billion, but lost money when one of his businesses, the oil company OGX, failed to deliver as promised, leading to its shares losing value. His other businesses followed suit and Batista’s companies were either sold or went bankrupt, including OSX and OGpar, two of the businesses that are now being partly sold to the Abu Dhabi fund.
This is not Batista’s first deal with Mubadala. In 2012, the sovereign granted EBX a roughly USD 2 billion loan, a sum which was later converted into a shareholding position. Mubadala also owns stakes in entertainment company IMX, in the Rio de Janeiro port Porto do Sudeste and in the logistics company Prumo Logística (formerly LLX), all of which were owned by Batista. The sums involved in the deals have not been disclosed.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
