Brazil's lower house of Congress has approved a bill paving the way for the privatisation of the state-owned power utility Eletrobras. According to the law, which remains to be approved by the Senate, the company would emit new shares that would be sold to investors, thus diluting the stake of the government, which would retain a golden share and a veto power. The privatisation is expected to raise BRL 25bn (US$4.7bn) and to be completed by January 2022.
In February 2021, the Brazilian president delivered a provisional measure to Congress, allowing the national development bank BNDES to start Eletrobras' privatisation process. Brazil directly controls 42.57% of Eletrobras’s total capital. In addition, 10.23% are owned by the federal government through BNESPAR, 5.92% through BNDES and 2.97% through government funds, raising the total state-owned interests to 61.69%. The remaining 38.31% of Eletrobras’s capital is held by public investors and traded on B3 (Brazil, Bolsa, Balcão), on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and on the Madrid Stock Exchange. The government is expected to reduce its stake in the company from around 62% to 45%.
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). The company also manages about half of the transport network with 71,000 km of transmission lines. The privatisation will exclude two affiliates of Eletrobras: Brazil’s nuclear energy company Eletronuclear and its 50% stake in Itaipu Binacional, the operator of the Itaipu binational hydropower plant (14 GW), a partnership with Paraguay.
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