The Brazilian government plans to reduce its stake in the power utility Eletrobras from 63% to 49% through a share offering, in a bid to raise more than BRL14bn (US$2.6bn). In April 2020, the Brazilian government postponed the privatisation of Eletrobras from October 2020 to the second quarter of 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Brazil initially expected to privatise around BRL150bn (US$28bn) in assets during 2020 focusing on energy assets from Eletrobras, with the objective to reduce the numbers of companies held by the government from 624 (at end-2019) to 300 by end-2020.
Eletrobras, which is the largest power utility in Brazil, owns 210 companies, including 8 mains subsidiaries, 173 joint ventures and stakes in 29 companies. The group has a production capacity of 51.1 GW, which represents 30% of the country's capacity (2019) including a 50% stake in Itaipu Binacional, the operator of the Itaipu hydropower plant (14 GW) and 50% of Norte Energia (NESA), the company responsible for the construction of the Belo Monte Dam (11.2 GW). The company also manages about half of the transport network with 71,000 km of transmission lines.