.:: Wald

Pinheiro Neto Advogados and Wald e Associados Advogados have closed a deal in the electricity sector that took more than a year to negotiate.

Eletrosul Centrais Elétricas was already a shareholder of the two transmission companies, and has bought further stakes in them from Schahin Engenharia and Engevix Engenharia. The US$113 million deal makes Eletrosul the majority owner.

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Schahin Engenharia sold a 41 per cent stake and Engevix Engenharia a 10per cent stake in Empresa de Transmissão de Energia de Santa Catarina and Empresa de Transmissão do Rio Grande do Sul in the deal, which closed on 11 February.

Gaining regulatory approval was time-consuming, notes partner Luiza Rangel of Eletrosul's counsel Wald e Associados. "The requirements for previous approval by the Brazilian electricity regulatory agency (ANEEL) and by financial entities for the closing of the transaction were the main delaying factors," she says.

Wald's Giovanna Mazetto Gallo also notes that before last year the deal would have been impossible under the 1961 law regulating her client's parent company. "Eletrosul is a subsidiary company of Eletrobrás (a Brazilian public company) and, as such, could only have minority interest in joint ventures," she says. "The transaction was only possible due to the approval by the Senate on 12 March 2008 ... modifying the relevant section of the law."

Counsel to Eletrosul Centrais Elétricas
• In-house counsel - Fabiano Marcos Zwicker
• Wald e Associados Advogados

Partners Arnoldo Wald, Alexandre de Mendonça Wald, Luiza Rangel de Moraes, Ivo Waisberg, Igor Carneiro de Matos and Maria Augusta da Matta Rivitti and associate Giovanna Mazetto Gallo

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Fonte: LatinLawyer Online