Under the terms of the MoU, both companies would contribute certain existing Brazilian assets to the JV. In addition, Shell would contribute a total of $1.62bn in cash, payable over two years.
Mark Williams, downstream director of Royal Dutch Shell, said: “We’re looking forward to joining with a leading company in Brazil to meet the needs of retail and commercial fuels customers in that growing market.
“We see joining with Cosan as a way to grow the role of low-carbon, sustainable biofuels in the global transportation fuel mix. The joint venture would also enable Shell to set up a material and profitable bio-fuels business, with the potential to deploy next generation technologies.”
The two parties will maintain negotiations towards a binding JV agreement, which shall be subject to final transactional documentation, due diligence, agreement between the two parties on important sustainability issues, regulatory approvals and respective corporate approvals.
