Aegea and Equatorial present proposals for the privatization of Copasa

Aegea Saneamento presented a proposal to participate in the privatization of Copasa (Companhia de Saneamento de Minas Gerais). The information was disclosed in a Relevant Fact on Monday night (25) and the consortium's main company is Livorno Participações S.A.

According to CNN, Equatorial Energia also presented a proposal for the privatization of the Minas Gerais company.

The market's initial expectation was that the dispute for Copasa would be concentrated between Sabesp and Aegea. However, last week, the São Paulo company decided not to participate in the process.

According to the qualification rules, interested parties must prove at least R$6.3 billion in infrastructure investments made over the last 20 years. The contributions must be distributed over five annual periods and may include sectors such as sanitation, urban mobility, energy, airports, ports and highways.

The privatization model provides that the reference investor can acquire up to 30% of the company.

The privatization process, however, has been facing setbacks. One of them was the temporary suspension of the bidding by the TCE-MG (Court of Auditors of the State of Minas Gerais), after identifying possible irregularities. The decision ended up being reversed a week later.

Among the points raised by the Court was a possible violation of the principle of equality, following the early disclosure of administrative resources to competitors before the end of the legal deadline.

Also according to the TCE-MG, there were doubts about the proposal's compliance with current environmental and technical standards and possible distortions in the composition of the project's total cost.

The design of the operation also received criticism from experts.

CNN Infra columnist Maurício Portugal said he hoped that the Copasa auction would have a more robust structure than that adopted in the privatization of Sabesp. According to him, in the São Paulo process there were problems in the pricing of shares in circulation, which would have led the government to "leave money on the table".

Source: CNN