October 31, 2024

By Gerelyn Terzo, Global AgInvesting Media

AMERRA Capital Management has announced the sale of one of its portfolio assets. The U.S.-based asset manager, which specializes in sustainable agribusiness and renewable bio-energy, has sold Brazilian sugar mill Salto Botelho Agroenergia (SBA) to Zilor Energy and Food. Located in the prime sugarcane region of Lucélia, São Paulo, and boasting a milling capacity of 1.8 million tons of sugarcane per year and 17.7 thousand hectares of cultivated area, SBA has the capacity to crush up to 1.8 million tons of sugarcane each year.

With an enterprise value of R$600 million ($104 million) attached, which will be adjusted at the transaction closing, the deal included SBA’s agro-industrial unit and cogeneration plant, which Zilor is adding to bolster its production of sugar, ethanol and electricity from sugarcane. The Lucélia plant was reportedly awarded to AMERRA Group amid a judicial recovery process for the Brazilian sugar mill company in 2022.

Contributing roughly 25 percent of the country’s GDP and rising, Brazil’s agribusiness sector is a very important driver of the regional economy. Agribusiness employs approximately one-fifth of Brazil’s population, while total agribusiness exports reached $15.2 billion in Q2 2024, an all-time high for the Latin American nation, fueled by products like sugarcane, beef and coffee, among others.

AMERRA is a formidable player in Latin America, having also rescued fellow Brazilian sugarcane farmer Rio Amambai Agroenergia. Founded in 2009, AMERRA has completed nearly 400 investments worth more than $5.7 billion. Last year at around this time, the investment manager sold Mexico’s Baja Aqua-Farms, one of the largest vertically-integrated Bluefin sustainable tuna ranchers on the planet, to an investment consortium.

The sale of Salto Botelho brings the target company full circle amid its previous insolvency and transformation into what AMERRA Capital Management Chief Investment Officer Craig Tashjian described as a “high caliber, professional enterprise.” Brazil’s ag sector is reportedly ripe for M&A as both investment funds and strategics make their way to the negotiating table.

Zilor CEO Fabiano Zillo commented, “With the acquisition of Salto Botelho Agroenergia, we gain scale and the opportunity to grow in a new region. The favorable location will make Zilor an even more competitive company in the pursuit of growth and longevity, reinforcing our shareholders’ commitment
and reaffirming the sustainable development of the communities in which we operate.”

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