Brenco

About Brenco

Brenco - Companhia Brasileira de Energia Renovável was a Brazilian bioenergy company established in 2006 with its headquarters in São Paulo. The firm was founded and led by Henri Philippe Reichstul, the former president of Petrobras, who brought other high-level executives from the state-owned oil giant to join the venture. Reichstul, a French-born economist with a degree from the University of São Paulo and postgraduate studies at Oxford, had a distinguished career in both the public and private sectors before founding Brenco, including roles at the International Coffee Organization and as president of IPEA.

The company's business model was centered on the large-scale production of ethanol from sugarcane, targeting both domestic and international markets. Brenco focused exclusively on alcohol production, differentiating itself from other sugar and alcohol plants by not producing sugar. Its operations involved the cultivation of sugarcane and the generation of electricity from biomass, with plans to establish ten new 'greenfield' plants in Brazil's center-west region. The business plan attracted significant investment from notable international figures and funds, including James Wolfensohn (former World Bank president), Vinod Khosla (founder of Sun Microsystems), and the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES).

Despite its ambitious plans and influential backers, Brenco faced significant financial difficulties, challenged by the global financial crisis which slowed down investments, and the operational complexities of developing new agricultural frontiers. These challenges led to a search for new partners and a corporate restructuring. In 2010, a major milestone occurred when Brenco merged with ETH Bioenergia, a subsidiary of the Odebrecht group. The deal, structured as a combination of assets, created the world's largest ethanol producer at the time, with the new entity retaining the ETH Bioenergia name. Brenco's shareholders held a 35% stake in the newly formed company. Following the merger, the company continued its focus on bioenergy, but later rebranded to Odebrecht Agroindustrial in 2013 and subsequently to Atvos in 2017.