The Italian energy group Enel has presented the highest offer for the acquisition of the entire share capital of the Brazilian power distributor Eletropaulo Metropolitana Eletricidade de São Paulo (Eletropaulo). Enel's offer now reaches BRL45.22 (US$12.14) per share, which is the highest price offer among those announced in the ongoing competition over Eletropaulo.
Eletropaulo is based in São Paulo and currently serves more than 18 million customers across 24 municipalities. It is currently owned by Energisa, an electric services company based in Rio de Janeiro. If Enel acquires Eletropaulo, it will gain access to another 7 million customers to its current Brazilian customer base of 17 millions.
Eletropaulo has announced the issue of 58.9 million new shares, equivalent to a 26% stake, attracting a BRL 25.51 (US$7.55) per share bid from Neoenergia, the Brazilian subsidiary of Spain's Iberdrola group. Iberdrola also committed to acquire the rest of Eletropaulo's shares at a total cost of BRL5.7bn (US$1.7bn). Enel then offered BRL4.7bn (US$1.38bn) for the entire capital of Eletropaulo and later raised its bid to about BRL5.4bn (US$1.56bn) and secured approval from the Brazilian Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) in May 2018.