Cosan Limited (CZZ)

[MWM]

Cosan Rises to 6-Month High on Petrobras Partner Speculation
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By Carlos Caminada and Paulo Winterstein

April 7 (Bloomberg) -- Cosan SA Industria & Comercio, the world’s biggest sugar-cane processor, rose to a six- month high in Sao Paulo after a media report it’s seeking a partnership with Brazilian state-controlled oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA.

Cosan rose 5.7 percent to 13.57 reais, the highest since Oct. 3 at 11:58 a.m. New York time, after gaining as much as 7.2 percent earlier on the Sao Paulo stock exchange.

Billionaire Cosan controlling shareholder Rubens Ometto is seeking funds from Petrobras and the National Bank for Economic and Social Development to boost the company’s assets, Rio de Janeiro-based newsletter Relatorio Reservado said today, without saying where it got the information. Petrobras may be looking for a partnership with Cosan to export ethanol to Japan, Global Equity Administradora de Recursos’ Mariana Goncalves said.

“The news floating around is that Petrobras is interested in creating a private company that would sell ethanol to Japanese markets,” Goncalves, an equity analyst at Global in Rio de Janeiro, said in a telephone interview. “That company would be managed by Cosan.”

An outside spokesman for Cosan declined to comment when called by Bloomberg News.