BG Group sells Brazilian business

BG Group is to sell its majority stake in Brazilian gas distributor Comgs for around 1.7 billion dollars.

The natural gas producer has signed a binding agreement with Brazilian firm Cosan S.A. Indstria e Comrcio for the sale of the group's entire 60.1% holding in Comgs.

BG Group Chief Executive, Sir Frank Chapman, said that when completed, the deal would release capital of around $2.8bn and reduce debt on the company's balance sheet by around $1.1bn.

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"Along with other planned divestments, [this] represents significant progress towards our two-year goal to release $5bn of capital from BG Group's balance sheet," he said.

The transaction, which is subject to regulatory approval, is likely to complete by the end of 2012.

BG Group and Cosan have also agreed, when the sale is complete, to co-operate on evaluating and developing gas supply options in Brazil.