Petrobras, Brazil’s deeply troubled state-run oil firm, has announced the sale of some of its vast assets in fellow South American countries Argentina and Chile, the amount totalling around $1.4bn, according to Bloomberg.
For two years Petrobras has been at the hub of a huge bribes-for-inflated-contracts scandal that has roiled Brazil’s economy and political establishment and seen various senior company executives and politicians charged and jailed.
The scandal, combined with the slumping oil market, ambitious overreach by Petrobras and some statutory requirements that impact its operations have added up to serious negative effects on the firm’s financials.
It has been slashing budgets, laying off staff, cancelling contracts and divesting assets on a huge scale to try to right the balance sheet.
These latest moves involve the sell-off of its 67.2% stake in Petrobras Argentina SA to Pampa Energia for $892m and the sale of Petrobras Chile Distribucion to Southern Cross Group for around $490m.
Pampa Energia is the largest integrated electricity company in Argentina and Southern Cross Group is an Argentina-based private equity company specializing in buyouts, turnarounds and middle market investments.
