Eike Batista negotiates the sale of his stake in MPX.
The announcement to the market comes after news reports that the company was negotiating with the German company E.ON; there are suspicions that the businessman has been moving to sell shares and assets because the strategy of raising capital mainly from Asian funds and investors has failed.
RIO DE JANEIRO, March 19 (Reuters) Businessman Eike Batista is negotiating the sale of a stake in MPX, his energy company, the company announced in a statement on Tuesday.
The announcement to the market comes after news reports in the Brazilian press indicated that Eike's company was negotiating with the German company E.ON, which already owns about 12 percent of MPX's shares, to increase its stake.
An E.ON spokesperson stated on Thursday that the company plans to remain in Brazil and sees Batista as a partner, but emphasized that "the strategy is not to have a majority stake in the business."
In the statement, MPX informed that no document has yet been signed and that it will keep the market informed about the developments of a potential deal.
The Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES), which has previously supported the EBX group in other operations, has no intention of investing capital in MPX, according to a source familiar with the matter.
The development bank could not be reached immediately for comment on the matter Tuesday night.
Another source close to Eike Batista told Reuters that the businessman has been moving to sell shares and assets because the strategy of raising capital mainly from Asian funds and investors has failed.
To reverse the situation, the EBX group partnered with BTG Pactual bank in a strategic cooperation agreement involving financial advisory services—which could lead to the Asian investors Eike Batista was hoping for—as well as lines of credit and long-term capital investments.
Eike's companies are suffering from growing market distrust, due to project delays and operational results falling short of expectations.
After reporting a much larger loss in 2012 than in 2011 and announcing the abandonment of a mining project in Chile, MMX reported that it is reviewing other projects with the aim of reducing investments.
OGX, Eike's oil company, also recently reported a drop in offshore production, another poor result that displeased the market.
(By Sabrina Lorenzi, Juliana Schincariol, Guilhermo Parra-Bernal and Tom Kaeckenhoff)