BP takes over Brazilian biofuel company

British oil giant BP said Wednesday it is taking over Tropical BioEnergia after purchasing a 50-percent stake in the Brazilian biofuel company. BP acquired a 25-percent stake from LDC-SEV Bioenergia and the other 25-percent stake from Maeda Agroindustrial group, one of Brazil's main cotton producers. The transaction, still pending official approval from Brazil's regulatory authorities, is worth a total of 71 million U.S. dollars. If the deal is approved, BP would be able to renovate the ethanol plant located in Edeia of central Goias state, boosting annual production to 450 million liters of ethanol and 5 tons of sugarcane within a year. "This is a significant step for BP's global strategy which helps us demonstrate our commitment to the Brazilian sugar and energy sector, and enable us to produce competitive biofuels in a sustainable way," BP Biofuels Vice President Philip New said in a statement. Mario Lindenhayn, chief of BP Biofuels in Brazil, said that next to other purchases, the agreement "establishes a solid platform to increase our capacity to produce biofuels for domestic and international markets." In a separate purchase announced Wednesday, BP upped its share holdings to 86 percent in the National Sugar and Alcohol Company (CNAA). BP said it had reached an agreement with Brazil's main sugar and ethanol producing company to buy 3 percent of the company's shares for 25 million dollars. BP bought 83 percent of the CNAA in April for 680 million dollars.