Brazilian conglomerate Cosan has sold some 173 million shares it owned in Vale , it said on Thursday, unloading a stake that made it an important shareholder of the mining giant as it looks to reduce debt.

Billionaire Rubens Ometto’s conglomerate Cosan SA is giving up its stake in mining giant Vale SA, ending its bet on a mining investment in order to pay down debt.

S.A. (B3: CSAN3; NYSE: CSAN), a Brazil-based energy and logistics company with a market capitalization of $2.66 billion, has sold its entire shareholding stake in Vale S.A., a global mining company. The transaction involved the sale of 173,

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,