RIO (Reuters) – Brazil’s state-controlled development bank BNDES raised 8.1 billion reais ($1.53 billion) by selling 135 million shares in miner Vale SA <VALE3.SA> in an auction on Tuesday morning, a source familiar with the matter said.
After this sale, BNDES has reduced its stake in the company to 3.7% from 6.3%, the source added.
The move by BNDES comes as the state-controlled lender has been divesting shares in companies recently as part of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro’s strategy to reduce government stakes in companies.
Last week, BNDES agreed to sell its stake in power company AES Tiete Energia SA <TIET11.SA> to the firm’s controlling shareholder AES Corp <AES.N>.
Shares in Vale were down 0.3% in afternoon trading at 60.09 reais.
(Reporting by Rodrigo Viga; Writing by Carolina Mandl; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Nick Zieminski)
