The privatization of Copasa suffered a significant setback after the proposals submitted by interested groups fell below the minimum price established by the government of Minas Gerais, NeoFeed has learned.
The discrepancy between the value expected by the State and the amount offered by the market led to the suspension of the stage of selecting the reference shareholder, considered central to the structuring of the operation.
The government's initial expectation was to attract an investor capable of acquiring around 30% of the company, a move that could raise approximately R$ 9 billion and pave the way for a subsequent offering, reducing the state's stake to something close to 5%.
Among those interested were Equatorial Energia and a group formed by Aegea Saneamento e Participações and its shareholders, both with a history in the sanitation sector. However, none of them agreed to pay the minimum amount set by the State.
Sources consulted by NeoFeed highlighted that the Minas Gerais state government worked with a valuation considered high for the current scenario, marked by high interest rates and greater selectivity from investors.
"As with an offer of this size, the tender notice does not include, for example, 'if the bids fall within 5% or 10% below the minimum price, there will be a new round of bidding'," says a source.
A new public notice is expected to be released by the government of Minas Gerais. According to a source, the document should reduce the size of the secondary market and attempt to move the bids from strategic players to at least the minimum price—which is not public.
Another possibility, viewed with more caution by the sources consulted by NeoFeed , would be to proceed without a reference shareholder, dispersing the company's capital through a public offering.
This alternative, however, raises doubts about its ability to guarantee governance and operational efficiency in a sector that requires heavy investments to meet universal access goals by 2033.
There are also risks that there will be no interested parties or that the auction will be taken to court, which would definitively bury the Minas Gerais government's aspirations to privatize Copasa.
