Apr 12, 2021

 The Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) will support the modernization of operational units from Tereos Açúcar & Energia Brasil and its affiliated company Usina Vertente Ltda., two of the main sugar and ethanol producers in Brazil.  The funds will also be used to purchase industrialized material for the sugarcane cultivation process.  Total financing will be R$ 370 million – R$ 330 million for Tereos and R$ 40 million for Vertente, in the scope of BNDES Finame Direct, which allows for contracting credit lines for machinery, equipment, industrial materials and associated working capital.

“Finame Direct was a product designed to be a financing alternative for purchasing machinery, equipment and materials, in a more flexible and agile way, thus offering a better experience for clients with lower transaction cost,” explains Marcos Rossi, Deputy Managing Director of the Industry, Services and Foreign Trade division at BNDES.

Through BNDES Finame Direct, enterprises and municipalities acquire a credit line for purchasing machinery, equipment, industrial systems, computer and automation goods and components, as well as other materials and working capital associated with equipment.

“BNDES is a major partner of Tereos and has had a key role in the company’s main investment programs in the last 10 years, from investments to expand our cogeneration park to grow our capacity to grind and produce sugar and ethanol,” says Pierre Santoul, CEO of Tereos Açúcar & Energia Brasil.  “This new R$ 370 million financing further strengthens our long-term partnership, with important support for our acquisition of machinery, equipment, and materials, in addition to contributing to the working capital of the operation. We thank BNDES for its trust in Tereos and for another step in our history together,” adds the executive.

Companies – Tereos Açúcar & Energia Brasil S.A. sells the Açúcar Guarani brand. The company’s operations are carried out in seven production units in the northwest of the state of São Paulo and, together, have an installed processing capacity of 23 million tons of sugarcane. In terms of energy, Tereos supplies the National Interconnected System with the surplus electricity required to run the company’s mills, produced from sugarcane pulp. The amount sold is equivalent to the annual consumption of a city with 1.3 million inhabitants, such as São Luís, in the state of Maranhão or Campinas, in the state of São Paulo.

Usina Vertente, in turn, was founded in 2002 in the municipality of Guaraci, São Paulo. The company, with more than 900 employees, is the largest job generator in the region. In 2010, with the partnership between Tereos – then called Guarani – and the Humus Group, each with a 50% stake, a project was started to expand the mill, increasing the installed milling capacity to 2.5 million tons of sugarcane. Like Tereos, Vertente cogenerates energy by burning sugarcane pulp.

Customer’s website – Before sending a request for support from BNDES Finame Direct to BNDES, the client must be qualified with the Bank. After completing this step, the request for financing can be submitted in the same clients’ website. 

About BNDES – Founded in 1952 and currently linked to the Ministry of Economy, BNDES is the main instrument of the Federal Government to promote long-term investments in the Brazilian economy. BNDES’s actions focus on the socioenvironmental and economic impact in Brazil. BNDES offers special conditions for micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises, as well as social investment lines, directed at education and health, family agriculture, sanitation and urban transport.  In crisis situations, BNDES acts in an anticyclical manner and assists in the formulation of solutions for the resumption of economic growth.