Chinese state-owned utility firm State Grid Corporation of China will pay 5.85 billion reais (US$1.8 billion) for a major stake in Brazil’s CPFL Energia SA, the latter said on Friday.
CPFL, Brazil’s largest power distributor, announced in a securities filing – quoted by news agency Reuters – that State Grid International Development Ltd, a subsidiary of State Grid Corporation of China, would buy a 23-percent stake in CPFL Energia from Camargo Correa SA, a privately held Brazilian engineering and real estate firm.
The deal is still subject to approval by Brazilian antitrust regulators, the report said. Other shareholders of CPFL have an option to outbid State Grid or sell their stakes to the Chinese company on equal terms, which might increase the final size of the deal, it added.
Reuters reported State Grid has previously said that it planned to expand its presence in Brazil beyond the power transmission assets it has been managing.
