Adds context in paragraphs 3-6, details of the IPO in paragraph 7

SAO PAULO, March 5 (Reuters) - Brazilian natural gas distributor Compass Gas e Energia, a unit of local conglomerate Cosan CSAN3.SA, said on Thursday it has filed for an initial public offering $(IPO)$ in Brazil.

Compass, which also operates in other parts of the gas chain, said in a securities filing the offering will comprise existing shares, noting more details of the deal will be released in due course.

The move follows a resumption of IPOs by Brazilian companies this year through share offerings by digital banks PicPay PICS.O and Agibank AGBK.N in the United States.

The last IPO to take place in Brazil was from fertilizer producer Vittia in September 2021.

Last December, sanitation firm BRK Ambiental also filed to go public in Brazil, Latin America's largest economy, but the deal has not yet been completed.

Cosan last year raised over 10 billion reais through share offerings to alleviate its debt. Meanwhile, it has also been seeking an alternative to address billions of dollars of debt at Raizen RAIZ4.SA, a sugar and ethanol joint venture it owns with Shell SHEL.L.

Compass, which is controlled by Cosan and has lender Bradesco BBDC4.SA among its minority shareholders, had filed for an IPO in 2020 in Brazil, but the offering was later cancelled.

Investment banks BTG Pactual, Bank of America, Bradesco BBI, Citigroup, Itau BBA, JPMorgan, Santander Brasil and XP were hired to run the IPO, Compass said.

(Reporting by Andre Romani; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Iñigo Alexander)

((Andre.Romani@thomsonreuters.com; 11 991314109;11 56447500;))