The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday edition that Brookfield Asset Management and its partners have agreed to buy 90 per cent of a Brazilian natural gas distribution network owned by Petroleo Brasileiro SA for $5.2-billion (all figures U.S.). A Bloomberg dispatch to The Globe says that the buyer group is being led by Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP, and includes CIC Capital Corp. and GIC Private Ltd. Brookfield Infrastructure's investment will be at least about 20 per cent the transaction, or around $825-million, payable on closing. The remainder will be owned by institutional partners. Sam Pollock, Brookfield Infrastructure's chief executive officer, said in a statement that the partners are investing in a "large-scale, high quality utility business and participate over time in Brazil's growing gas industry." Petrobras is selling the stake in Nova Transportadora do Sudeste in southern Brazil after it became the centre of the country's biggest corruption scandal and as it struggles to recover from billions invested in unprofitable refineries. Petrobras set a $15.1-billion asset sale target for the two years through 2016 to reduce the heftiest debt load in the industry.