11/10/2024 – 10:24
By Letícia Fucuchima
SÃO PAULO (Reuters) -Âmbar Energia, controlled by the holding company J&F, the same company that controls the meat giant JBS, signed on Thursday night, in the last hour of a regulatory deadline, the term to take over the distributor Amazonas Energia.
The deal includes contributions of 6.5 billion reais by J&F, but also flexible obligations of 14 billion reais that will generate costs for consumers across Brazil.
This was the price, however, for the Batista family company to take on a distributor with billions of reais in debt, whose current controller, Oliveira Energia, was unable to resolve the company’s financial problems, sold by Eletrobras even when the electricity company was state-owned.
The agreement for J&F to take over Amazonas Energia was signed on the last day of validity of the provisional measure that made the operation viable.
But this was done under conditions agreed with the National Electric Energy Agency (Aneel), which provide that the completion of the operation will only occur if the discussion of this case in court is “stabilized” by December 31, said the Wesley brothers’ conglomerate and Joesley Batista.
The future of the Amazonian distributor, highly indebted and with serious operational problems, has been discussed at both the administrative and judicial levels.
The Amazonian concessionaire took action against Aneel to speed up its process of changing controllers, and obtained an injunction that forced the regulator to approve the deal under the conditions proposed by Âmbar – the only one interested in staying with the distributor – without there being a technical decision.
This regulatory approval was only given sub judice, by virtue of a first instance injunction, which was seen as legally fragile by Âmbar, since the deal could be annulled if the injunction fell. Âmbar expected Aneel to also give approval at the administrative level, which did not happen.
That is why the company sought to condition, upon signing the agreement, the effective closing of the operation to a “stabilization” of the legal action, as a confirmation in the second degree.
“The signed contract provides the necessary legal security for the business, since Âmbar will only take over as distributor if the court decision that determined the signing of the agreement is stabilized by December 31st,” said Âmbar.
“Âmbar hopes that this outcome will occur as soon as possible, allowing the completion of the operation and absolute focus on providing excellent services to the population of Amazonas”, he added.
The approved plan for Âmbar to take over the Amazon concession provides for regulatory flexibility, in terms of energy losses and operational costs, which will cost the country’s electricity consumers 14 billion reais over 15 years.
Âmbar also committed to making a capital contribution of 6.5 billion reais, by the end of this year, to reduce the distributor’s debt, which amounts to more than 10 billion reais.
Amazonas Energia is considered one of the most difficult distribution concessions to operate in the country, due to its extensive area in regions of the Amazon rainforest.
The concessionaire was privatized in 2018, when Eletrobras was still state-owned, and since then its controlling company, Oliveira Energia, has been unable to improve the economic-financial and operational situation of the distributor, which suffers from high defaults on accounts and a rate of energy theft. of 120%.
This situation led Aneel to recommend, last year, the expiration of the company’s contract. To avoid the loss of the contract and intervention by public authorities in Amazonas, the federal government issued a provisional measure in June with a series of actions to facilitate the economic and financial recovery of the concession and attract a new controller for the company.
The MP that expired the day before, although it had technical support, was viewed with suspicion because it was published a few days after the announcement of a private transaction between Eletrobras and Âmbar involving thermoelectric plants that sold energy to Amazonas Energia.
In addition to giving commands to facilitate the change of Amazonas concessionaire, the MP stipulated that the distributor’s contracts with these thermoelectric plants be converted into reserve energy contracts. This measure resolved a problem of overcontracting by the distributor and also of default — as the concessionaire had not been paying the thermal plants for energy — but placed the burden of these payments on energy consumers across the country.
(Editing by Roberto Samora)
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