(Adds deadline for bids' delivery)
Brazil's state-controlled oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA PETR4.SA on Tuesday relaunched the process to allow new bids for the TAG pipeline network, two people with knowledge of the matter said on Wednesday.
Petrobras, as the company is known, has finished drafting a sale contract with the winner of the first phase of the process, France's Engie SA ENGIE.PA , which is bidding with Canadian pension fund Caisse de Dépot et Placement du Québec.
The bids in the second round, requested by Brazil's audit court, will be due on April 2, the sources added, asking for anonymity because the talks are private.
The oil company had been targeting a sale of a 90 percent stake in TAG, which operates about 2,800 miles (4,500 kilometers) of gas pipelines. The pipeline operator is the largest divestiture in Petrobras' asset sales program.
On Tuesday, the other two groups received the documents from Petrobras needed to offer new bids for TAG, which may be delivered over the coming weeks. The groups will not have access to the exact price offered by Engie, the sources added.
Engie's bid was said to be around $8 billion, although it may also raise it in this new round.
Petrobras did not immediately comment. One of the rival groups is led by Australia's Macquarie Bank Ltd (MBLPA) , with Canada's pension fund CPPIB and Brazilian investment firms Itausa Investimentos SA ITSA4.SA and Cambuhy Investimentos Ltda. The third one is led by United Arab Emirates' Mubadala Investment Company and EIG Global Energy Partners.
