Project Description
Equatorial Energia S.A. (“EQTL”, the “Company”), a holding company with investments in Brazil’s electricity sector and an existing IFC partner, is seeking financing from IFC to support (i) the turnaround and expansion of Centrais Electricas do Para S.A. (“CELPA”) and (ii) the potential future acquisition and turnaround of other power distribution companies in Northern and Central Brazil (together, the “Project”).
CELPA is the distribution company of the State of Para, covers a service area of 1.25 million square kilometers (the size of France, the UK and Spain combined) and serves close to 1.8 million customers representing a population of nearly seven million people as of end of 2011. CELPA was privatized and acquired by Rede Enérgia S.A. (“Rede”) in 1998. Since then, CELPA has been underperforming and filed for Brazil’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February 2012 as it was unable to meet its debt obligations.
In June 2012, EQTL presented a buyout proposal to Rede, acquired Rede’s 61.4% ownership of CELPA and formally took over on November 1, 2012. The remaining stake is held by Brazil’s federal, integrated power utility, Elétrobras (34.2%) and others (4.4%).