Brazil State-owned power utility Eletrobras informs that the Investment Partnerships Program (PPI) of the Federal Government (Programa de Parcerias de Investimento da Presidência da República, PPI) approved the sale of its shareholding participation in electricity distribution company CELG Distribuição.
The Government of Brazil will sell 99.93% of CELG capital it owns ; 50.93% through Eletrobras and 49% through Celgpar owned by the Government of Goiás state.
The new market value approved by the PPI for CELG is BRL4,448bn (US$1.35bn) but future shareholders will have to assume debt and other liabilities totalling BRL2,656bn (US$810m), resulting in the net amount for the whole of the company's shares of BRL1,792bn (US$550m).
CELG distributes and retails electricity in 237 municipalities in the Brazilian State of Goiás, serving more than 2 million consumers that represent around 2.4% of electricity consumption in Brazil.
The auction is planned to be handled in November 2016. The Ministry of Mines and Energy first announced the privatisation of CELG in May 2015 but the process was delayed several times.