Brazil's Eike Batista eyes new $500 mln Gulf investment in 'supercane' project
Eike Batista was once Brazil's richest businessman. He said that a Gulf investor would soon announce a $500-million investment in his project to use modified sugarcane for the production of sustainable fuels.
Batista said that the project had already received $500 million in funding from Sao Paolo's private development bank Brazilinvest and aims to secure another investment of this size from a strategic investor from the United Arab Emirates.
Batista’s commodities and energy industry collapsed more than a decade before. Some critics of Brazil's established ethanol industry have skepticism about his planned comeback. However, the businessman claims that his technology has been tested for a decade.
In a recent interview, Batista said: "Supercane represents our revolution."
The project, which will eventually cover 70,000 hectares with sugarcane planted when it matures, could produce over 1 billion liters (or ethanol) as well as 979,000 tons (or biodegradable packaging) using the biomass produced by processed cane.
Batista stated that the module will be built in Rio de Janeiro and use the ethanol produced to produce more than half a a billion liters sustainable aviation fuel. He hopes to establish at least 20 modules, each covering 70,000 hectares.
He wants to replace the RB867515 variety of sugarcane - which is the most popular in Brazil – with the new SC157070, which grows up to five meters high and allows for denser plantation.
Batista stated that the new variety produces two to three more ethanol and seven to twelve times more biomass than traditional cane.
"In my view, sugar mills in Brazil will switch all sugarcane currently planted there in the next five years to this sugarcane that has a completely different motor," Batista stated.
SKEPTICISM IN THE INDUSTRY
Rubens Ometto of Brazilian sugar giant Cosan has criticised Batista's Project, saying that his previous experiences with similar technology failed to deliver their promises.
Batista says that Ometto was a project that used older technology while his new one benefits from technological advancements.
A former oil and mining tycoon’s legal and financial troubles also hang over the venture. He is currently legally prohibited from owning the company, so he's lining up future rights.
Batista was once among the richest men in the world, but his fortunes in the oil, power, port and mining industries collapsed. In 2017, he was arrested on charges that he had paid bribes to secure contracts with the Rio State government.
The entrepreneur denies all wrongdoing.
During the golden years of the 2000s Batista brought several companies to public market, including OGX. This oil company failed to meet investors' expectations, and was forced into bankruptcy. He was convicted in 2021 and fined over insider trading and manipulation of the market involving OGX.
Batista stated that he does not plan to make his new venture publicly available, but instead will rely on larger direct investors.
His team is also working on a pilot phase for a cryptocurrency called $EIKE. This currency is being used to gauge investor interest outside Brazil.
CVM, the Brazilian market regulator, is currently reviewing $EIKE. Batista stated that the token was not intended to be used in Brazil immediately.
(source: Reuters)
