Brazil's Ultrapar to invest $659 mln

Ultrapar Participações SA , a large player in energy and infrastructure in Brazil, plans to invest 2.17 billion reais ($659 million) in 2017 to increase output and modernize its operations, the company said in a filing on Friday.

More than half of that investment, or 1.1 billion reais, will go to its fuel distribution unit Ipiranga, the country's second largest.

In November, Ultrapar bought Petrobras' liquefied petroleum gas unit, Liquigás Distribuidora SA, for 2.8 billion reais in an effort expand its margin.

(Reporting by Alonso Soto; Editing by Sandra Maler)