LIMA - Peru’s biggest construction company, Grana y Montero , said on Wednesday that it signed a $215 million deal to buy a 20 percent stake in a major natural gas pipeline project in Peru controlled by Brazilian builder Odebrecht. The acquisition was made public in a company statement to Peru’s market regulator. The agreement comes as Odebrecht has been trying to secure financing for remaining work on the $5 billion pipeline by year-end. Odebrecht and junior partner Enagas SA won the rights to build the pipeline last year. Odebrecht had a 75 percent stake, Enagas 25 percent. Grana y Montero bought the 20 percent stake from Odebrecht and not Enagas, an Odebrecht spokesperson said. Construction is now about 25 percent complete and operations are scheduled to begin in 2018. The pipeline will transport natural gas from Peru’s Camisea fields in the jungle through the Andes and to the southern coast. President Ollanta Humala considers the pipeline key to ramping up electrical output and supplying a future petrochemicals hub on the coast.