Thursday, October 5, 2017 11:45 am

SAO PAULO, Brazil (From news reports) -- Brazilian pension fund Funcef decided to exercise tag-along rights and sell its 8.53 percent stake in wood pulpmaker Eldorado Brasil Celulose SA to Netherlands-based Paper Excellence BV, according to a statement on Wednesday.

Eldorado controlling shareholder J&F Investimentos SA agreed in September to sell the pulpmaker to Paper Excellence, controlled by the owners of Indonesia's Asia Pulp & Paper Co Ltd, for 15 billion reais ($4.8 billion).

The stake held by Funcef, the pension fund representing employees at state bank Caixa Econômica Federal, is valued at around 650 million reais, a person with knowledge of the transaction said.

Funcef owns the stake indirectly through investment vehicle FIP Florestal, which is also partly owned by Petros, the pension fund of oil workers at Petroleo Brasileiro SA.

Petros has yet to announce whether it will sell its own 8.53 percent stake in the investment vehicle.

****

Jim Thompson is back again...with a new book on a taboo subject: the personalities in the pulp & paper industry. Jim has written in the past on many subjects based on his four plus decades in the worldwide pulp and paper industry. This new book is packed full of information valuable to the senior member of the industry as well as the recent entrant. A must for every pulp and paper library.