Enel's subsidiary Enel Brasil has been officially confirmed by the Brazilian national development bank (BNDES) as winner of the tender for the acquisition of 94.8% shares in Celg Distribuição, an energy distribution company that operates in the Brazilian state of Goiás.
Enel Brasil's offer was worth 2.187 billion Brazilian reais (around $640 million).
The sale of Celg is part of the privatisation of state assets launched by the Brazilian government.
After the purchase of Celg, Enel Group’s client base in Brazil is expected to increase by 3 million to 10 million, bringing Enel Group’s customers at global level to approximately 65 million, Enel said in a statement in late December.
The signing and closing of the purchase agreement are both expected to take place in the first quarter of 2017, following approval from antitrust authority CADE and electricity regulator ANEEL.
“Goiás is an excellent market, which offers really good growth opportunities, in the heart of Brazil’s agribusiness system” Enel's CEO Francesco Starace had said in early December, adding that “Celg is a sound investment and we are looking forward to start working in the company in order to grow in Brazil’s distribution sector, making the most of existing synergies within the Group while also creating new ones.”
Established in 1956, Celg (which is currently a subsidiary of state-controlled electricity company Eletrobras) operates through a concession that is valid until 2045. It has a customer base of 2.9 million.
Despite Brazil as a whole recording negative growth for electricity demand in 2015, Goiás posted electricity demand growth of 2.5% on the previous year, as well as seeing the addition of more than 85,300 new customers at Celg, Enel previously reported.