Italian energy giant Enel on Monday took a controlling stake in Brazil’s largest power supplier, buying 73 percent of Eletropaulo shares for about $1.47 billion (1.26 billion euros).
Enel and Spanish rival Iberdrola had been fighting over Eletropaulo for more than two months, giving rise to several takeover and counter takeover bids, reports BSS.
The B3, which organized the public auction, reports in a press release the sale of “122,799,289 shares at 45.22 reais, for a financial volume of 5,552,983,848.58 reais.”
Eletropaulo, a Sao Paulo power company that was privatized in 1998, announced Wednesday in a statement that the Italian group had presented the best offer, via its subsidiary Enel Brasil Investimentos Sudeste, against Iberdrola’s offer of 39.53 per share.
Enel had offered 1.75 billion euros ($2.05 billion) to acquire 100 percent of Eletropaulo, the shareholders having the possibility to sell them or not at the price fixed at the time of the last offer. In the end, this takeover bid enabled the Italian giant to obtain 73.38 percent of the distributor’s capital.
Enel said last week that the transaction would allow it to add another seven million additional customers in Brazil, to hit 17 million.
