(New throughout, adds information throughout on company’s divestment plans, share reaction) SAO PAULO, April 28 (Reuters) - Brazilian power utility Cemig is planning an initial public offering of its gas distribution unit and a wave of divestments, executives said on Wednesday, and the company’s shares rose over 4% after the news. During an online investors’ event, executives said they planned to sell off some 9 billion reais ($1.66 billion) in assets through 2025, including the company’s stake in the massive Belo Monte and Santo Antonio hydroelectric dams. As part of that divestment drive, the company, formally Cia Energetica de Minas Gerais SA, also plans to sell its stake in Alianca Energia, a joint power generation venture with Brazilian mining company Vale SA, the executives said. Cemig is the public power company of Minas Gerais, Brazil’s second most populous state. Sao Paulo-listed shares in the company were up 4.4% in mid-day trade, the second biggest gainer on Brazil’s benchmark Bovespa equities index. Earlier in the event, Minas Gerais Governor Romeu Zema re-affirmed his stated intentions to privatize the company, saying he wanted it completed by the end of his term in 2022. “I would like the company to be privatized during my tenure,” Zema said. “Perhaps not to outright sell it, but for it to receive a (private) capital injection and therefore dilute the state, which has always interfered inappropriately, so it loses its controlling stake and stops hurting Cemig.” (Reporting by Luciano Costa; Writing by Gram Slattery; Editing by Louise Heavens and David Gregorio)