Ultrapar

In 1999, Ultra went public and began to trade its shares on the stock exchanges in São Paulo and New York City.[10] It was the first Brazilian company to go public directly in New York stock market. Such initiative enabled Ultra to have greater capacity to invest, and the company started to use its shares as currency for the acquisition of other businesses.[11] Once capitalized, Ultra began the process of expanding its operations in the following decade.

Four years later, in 2003, Ultra acquired Shell Gas – a propane distributor belonging to Shell of Brazil – making Ultragaz a leader in the national LP gas market.[12] In December of the same year, the company began its operations in the international market through the acquisition by Oxiteno of Canamex, the chemicals division of a Mexican group called Berci.[13]

In 2005, Ultracargo began its operations at the intermodal terminal in the port of Santos, SP.[14]

Two years later, in 2007, Ultra acquired the fuel distribution operation of Grupo Ipiranga in the South and Southeast of Brazil, as well as the brand Ipiranga immediately becoming the second largest liquid fuel distribution company in Brazil, with a 15% market participation.[15]

In 2007, Ultra acquired União Terminais, owned at the time by União das Indústrias Petroquímicas, and turned Ultracargo into the largest operator in the trade of liquid bulk storage in Brazil, holding 30% of the Brazilian capacity.[16]

In the following year, Ultra concluded the purchase of Texaco Brasil’s fuel distribution operations, increasing Ipiranga’s market participation in its sector to 23% of the national fuel market.

In November 2016, Ultrapar purchased Petrobras' liquefied petroleum gas subsidiary for $819 million.[17] In February 2018, the CADE, did not approve the purchase.[18]