Brazil’s Cosan unloads stake in miner Vale

SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazilian conglomerate Cosan has unloaded some 173 million shares it owned in mining giant Vale, which accounted for a stake of roughly 4.05%, it said in a securities filing on Thursday.

The move was “based solely on the goal of optimizing its capital structure,” Cosan said, without disclosing financial details of the transaction.

Local newspaper Valor Economico reported earlier in the day, citing unnamed sources, that Cosan was readying a block trade expected to total 10 billion reais ($1.66 billion) to sell Vale shares as part of a bid to reduce its leverage ratio.

($1 = 6.0126 reais)

(Reporting by Gabriel Araujo; Editing by David Goodman and Kylie Madry)