Petrobras concludes sale of REMAN to Atem Group
Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. (Petrobras), the Brazilian state-owned oil and gas company, has finalized the sale of the shares of Refinaria de Manaus S.A. (Manaus Refinery).
The Manaus Refinery was formed to hold Refinaria Isaac Sabbá (REMAN) and its corresponding logistics assets, located in Manaus, Amazonas, to the company Ream Participações S.A (Ream), a corporate vehicle owned by the partners of Atem’s Distribuidora de Petróleo S.A. (Atem).
REMAN has a processing capacity of 46,000 barrels per day and its assets include a water transportation terminal.
The Atem Group is composed of several companies in the fuel, road and river logistics, and shipbuilding business, among others, the main one being Atem, a corporation founded more than 20 years ago. The Group is present in 14 states in Brazil, with the distributor, more than 320 franchised stations, seven active distribution bases, two bases under construction, with a capacity to handle more than five billion liters of fuel per year, and more than 2,000 active customers.
Following fulfillment of all regulatory requirements and contractual obligations, the transaction was concluded with a payment of USD257.2 million to Petrobras, which reflects the purchase price of USD189.5 million, adjusted preliminarily due to monetary correction and to the variations in working capital, net debt, and investments until the closing of the transaction.
The amount of USD228.8 million received on November 30 is in addition to the USD28.4 million already paid when the purchase and sale agreement was signed. The contract still foresees a final adjustment of the acquisition price, which will be determined in the coming months.
The REMAN divestment process was launched in June 2019 and in August 2021 the contract for the sale of the refinery was signed with the Atem group. The entire process took more than three years to be completed and strictly followed the company’s Divestment Methodology, having been approved in all instances of Petrobras’ corporate governance.
Brazil’s Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) granted its approval for the planned sale of assets on May 13, 2022.
The sale is part of the commitment signed by Petrobras with the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) to open the refining sector in Brazil and is in line with Resolution no. 9/2019 of the National Energy Policy Council, which established guidelines to promote free competition in the refining activity in the country.