By Brazil Stock Guide – BNDES, Brazil’s state development bank, approved two credit lines totaling 150 million reais ($27 million) for Grupo Cerradinho, according to a statement published by the bank’s news agency, Agência de Notícias do BNDES. The funds will finance technological innovation, industrial modernization and production capacity expansion at the group’s ethanol plants in Chapadão do Céu, in southwestern Goiás state, and Maracaju, in southwestern Mato Grosso do Sul.
Cerradinho Bioenergia S.A., the group’s holding company, filed for an initial public offering with Brazil’s securities regulator CVM but has not yet listed shares on B3, the São Paulo exchange; it currently trades only debentures under the ticker CERR16. BNDES itself is a wholly state-owned institution with no publicly traded stock.
Loan Structure
The financing package consists of two separate operations under BNDES’s Mais Inovação program, which supports digitalization and innovation investment projects across Brazilian industry.
The first loan, worth 50 million reais ($9 million), goes to Neomille S.A., Cerradinho’s corn-ethanol subsidiary, and will fund the purchase of machinery, equipment and technology services accredited by BNDES.
The second, larger operation — 100 million reais ($18 million) — is shared between Cerradinho Bioenergia S.A. and Neomille S.A. and will finance capital goods with domestically developed technology, including industrial and agricultural equipment.
Executive Comment
BNDES President Aloizio Mercadante linked the financing to the bank’s broader sustainability agenda. “These are investments in domestic technology aimed at energy efficiency and carbon emissions reduction,” he said.
Company Background
Founded in 1970 in Catanduva, São Paulo state, Grupo Cerradinho operates one of Brazil’s largest sugar-energy industrial complexes, producing sugarcane and corn ethanol, sugar, bioelectricity and byproducts including dried distillers grains (DDG) and corn oil. The group’s plants in Goiás and Mato Grosso do Sul have combined capacity to process 1.8 million tons of corn and 6.1 million tons of sugarcane annually.
Cerradinho has expanded aggressively in recent years, adding industrial units and scaling output. Corn ethanol has become an increasingly significant contributor to operating revenue, according to the group, reflecting a broader diversification push beyond its traditional sugarcane base.
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