Mayer Brown advises Engie, CDPQ on $8.6bn TAG stake purchase from Petrobras

A Mayer Brown team has represented Engie and La Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) in the acquisition of a 90 per cent shareholding stake in gas transportation company Transportadora Associada de Gás (TAG) from Brazil’s state energy company Petrobras.

The final and binding offer amounted to $8.6 billion.

As a result of the transaction, Engie will have a 58.5 per cent stake and CDPQ will have a 31.5 per cent stake in the asset, while Petrobras will maintain a 10 per cent stake in TAG’s capital.

The acquisition of TAG – the largest natural gas transportation company in Brazil, with approximately 4,500km of gas pipeline infrastructure located along the coast of the northeast and southeast regions, in addition to a pipeline in the north of Brazil — is part of Petrobras’ divestment program and the largest privatisation ever in Brazil.

Gas is becoming a strategic energy source in the country, and this is Engie’s debut in the natural gas segment. This deal is also CDPQ’s first infrastructure investment in Brazil.

The law firm’s team was led by corporate and securities partner Alexandre Chequer (pictured) and included corporate and securities partners Victor Galante and Débora Yanasse, special counsel Tiago Macedo, and associates Dicéa Ferraz, Luciana Sodré, Eduarda Nagle and Lívia Lima. Tax transactions and consulting partner Guido Vinci and counsel Fernanda Bastos, litigation and dispute resolution partners Luís Adams and Gustavo Fernandes, and associates Francisco Mastropietro and Guilherme Silveira, as well as compliance partner Michel Sancovski and associates Maria Eugenia Kanazawa and Luiz Santiago;, and real estate partners José Paulo Marzagão and Ludmila Braga, in addition to associates Fernando Issa and Anna Pedroso.