BNDES confirms auction of Cepisa for R$ 50.

By Luciano Nascimento, reporter for Agência Brasil - The National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) reported that the Bidding Committee responsible for the sale process of the Eletrobras group's distributors considered the requirements for participation in the privatization auction of Companhia Energética do Piauí (Cepisa) to be met. As a result, the auction should take place tomorrow (26), at 10 am at the B3 Stock Exchange, in São Paulo.

The confirmation was made after the commission analyzed the documents presented on Monday (23) by those interested in Cepisa. The bank, responsible for the process, did not disclose the number of applicants who submitted the documents.

During the public session, the economic proposals submitted by interested investors will be opened. Oral bidding will also be possible. Cepisa will be sold for the symbolic value of approximately R$ 50. The winner will be the bidder offering the highest discount on the electricity tariff defined by the National Electric Energy Agency (Aneel).

Cepisa will be the first of Eletrobras' six distribution companies to be privatized. On the 18th, BNDES had stated that it would maintain the auction on the 26th, after a court decision suspended an injunction that prevented the auction of Eletrobras' subsidiaries.

At the time, the bank also informed that the auction of four other distributors – Companhia de Eletricidade do Acre (Eletroacre), Centrais Elétricas de Rondônia (Ceron), the distributor Boa Vista Energia, from Roraima, and Amazonas Distribuidora de Energia (Amazonas Energia) – will be held on August 30th.

The auction of the Alagoas Energy Company (Ceal) remains suspended due to a court decision by Minister Ricardo Lewandowski of the Supreme Federal Court (STF), which prevented the sale of the company, following a lawsuit filed by the government of Alagoas.