#eletrobras

[brazaesthetic]

PROCEL Eletrobras (1988)

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Brazil election frontrunner Lula eyes Eletrobras privatization rollback, aides say

Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the leftist frontrunner ahead of an October election, is looking at ways to reverse President Jair Bolsonaro's planned privatization of state-run electricity company Eletrobras, his advisers say.

Latin America's largest utility, known formally as Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras SA (ELET6.SA), will be the highest-profile – and perhaps final – major state asset sale for Bolsonaro's government, which has disappointed free-market advocates' hopes for more aggressive privatizations.

Lula's aides said the transaction shifting majority control of the power company to private investors, scheduled for Thursday, will be short-lived if he has his way. But many legal and financial experts said the privatization deal has many built-in safeguards that will make it hard to unwind once it goes through.

Lula, a fierce opponent of privatizations, has consistently criticized the Eletrobras sale, saying it threatens Brazil's security and will leave the nation's resources vulnerable to foreign exploitation. He has even warned investors against buying the company's shares.

"For the businessmen that have some sense, it's important to count to 10 before doing the crazy thing of buying Eletrobras at the price of a banana," he said in a recent radio interview.

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[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Brazil's Eletrobras privatization offer to happen by July, says Minister

The privatization offer for Brazil's power company Eletrobras (ELET6.SA) is now set to happen by July, the country's Mines and Energy Minister Bento Albuquerque said on Friday, after the federal audit court TCU postponed for 20 days approval of the move.

In a virtual news conference during a visit to India, Albuquerque said that there was an advance in the process, even though the court delayed the final decision.

On Wednesday, TCU Judge Vital do Rego asked for another 60 days to further study the plan to privatize the company via a share offering, which would have effectively disrupted the timeline to privatize the company this year. But other members of the court reduced the delay to 20 days.

For months, TCU auditors have reviewed the plan to relinquish state control over Eletrobras, or Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras SA, Latin America's largest utility. The company has proposed a share sale to raise at least 25 billion reais ($5.4 billion) while diluting the government's stake to make it a minority shareholder.

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[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Brazil's Eletrobras preselects banks for follow-on share offering

[Image description: Eletrobras logo.]

Brazilian state-run power company Eletrobras has preselected Bank of America, BTG Pactual, Goldman Sachs, Itau BBA and XP Investimentos as lead managers of a follow-on share offering, a securities filing showed on Thursday.

Eletrobras' share offering is expected to dilute the state's stake in the company to at least 45%. The government hopes to raise 50 billion reais ($8.86 billion) with the transaction, which should happen in early 2022.

Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras SA, as the company is formally known, said the hiring process is ongoing and final approval is pending.

It added that it has not yet selected the other banks that will also be part of the syndicate.

Source.

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Brazil creates state-run company to control some Eletrobras assets

[Image desription: Eletrobras logo.]

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has signed a decree to create a state-run company called to control Eletrobras assets that cannot be sold in the power company's privatization, the presidential press office said late on Sunday.

The Itaipu hydroelectric power plant and the nuclear plant in Angra dos Reis are among the assets that would be held by the new company called ENBpar, according to the decree.

The creation of a state-controlled company had been expected after it was included in the bill that allows Eletrobras to be privatized.

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[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Brazilian President supports Cuban demonstrations, signs privatization of Eletrobras

[Image description: Jair Bolsonaro.]

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro Tuesday expressed his support for the Cuban people protesting against their living conditions under the Communist Government of Miguel Díaz-Canel.

”I support the movements for freedom in Cuba. I want to see if (former President Luiz Inácio) Lula (Da Silva) does the same,” said Bolsonaro.

“Lula is a criminal who cannot go out on the streets and is with almost 60% of the intention to vote. In order not to be like Cuba we have to avoid electoral fraud in the 2022 elections,“ he added.

Bolsonaro criticized the Communist regime. He stressed that ”Cuban medicine is a sham” and recalled that 15,000 Cuban doctors who were working in Brazil with an agreement with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) decided to leave before he took office.

“In order not to be like Cuba, we must have the auditable vote,” he said, insisting on the need to change the electronic ballot box system that Brazil has used since 1996.

Also Tuesday Bolsonaro signed into law the privatization of Eletrobras and vetoed social protection for the workers who are being laid off in the process, which had been approved by Congress. Following the change of hands of the electricity company, consumers fear rates will rise up to 15 percent, while government officials have estimated that under the new management they might fall up to 7.36%.

Privatization has come at a difficult time for hydroelectric power in Brazil, its main source, as a result of the worst drought in the last 91 years in the southern and southeastern basins of the country, including that of the Paraná River.

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[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Brazil’s Senate Opposes Proposed Eletrobras Privatization

Brazil’s Senate is against the privatization of Brazilian state-controlled utility giant Eletrobras in the current form proposed by the government, Senate President Davi Alcolumbre said on Friday.

The privatization bill for Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras—as Eletrobras is officially named—is opposed by 48 out of 81 Senators, Alcolumbre told reporters, as carried by Reuters.

Brazil has been considering for several years giving up state control over the utility, but the privatization efforts were accelerated under new right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro, who came to office at the beginning of this year.

In 2017, Brazil announced that it would put up for privatization 57 major state infrastructure assets, including selling some or all of its 51-percent stake in Eletrobras.

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[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Brazil government lacks an alternative to criticized Eletrobras privatization plan

Brazil's government does not have an alternative proposal for the privatization of power holding company Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras SA (ELET6.SA) which appears headed for rejection in the Senate, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.

Last week, Senate President Davi Alcolumbre said the bill proposed by the government for the privatization of Eletrobras, as the company is known, will not be approved by senators due to resistance from the Northeastern and Northern regions. The power holding company controls nearly a third of power generation and around half of all power transmission in Brazil.

The privatization bill was sent by President Jair Bolsonaro's government to Congress last month. But Alcolumbre said senators from the Northeastern and Northern regions are against the privatization model.

Government sources said there is no alternative plan and that Bolsonaro's government will try to convince Congress to approve the current version of the bill.

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