Por Wald, Antunes, Vita e Blattner Advogados
Publicado na
Brazilian private equity group, Fundo Bordeaux, has hired Cascione Pulino Boulos Advogados and Wald, Antunes, Vita e Blattner Advogados to acquire Paraná state-owned telecommunications company Copel for 2.4 billion reais (US$460 million).
Copel turned to Cescon, Barrieu, Flesch & Barreto Advogados for the deal, which closed on 11 August. Fundo Bordeaux also made a private placement of debentures worth 3.5 billion reais (US$671 million), 2.5 billion reais (US$479 million) of which were used to fund the purchase of Copel. Wald, Antunes, Vita e Blattner helped Fundo Bordeaux raise 1.5 billion reais (US$288 million) of the total amount. Fundo Bordeaux bought the telecoms company through an auction on the São Paulo stock exchange, giving it full ownership of Copel.
The privatisation of the state-owned telecommunications company is expected to improve broadband and internet services in the southern Brazilian state. Fundo Bordeaux’s acquisition of Copel is one of several recent privatisations in Brazil. In July, CPFL Energia purchased a 66% stake in Companhia Estadual de Transmissão de Energia Elétrica, a state-owned power transmission company, for US$511 million.
A month earlier, oil and gas business Equatorial Energia acquired state-owned utility group Companhia de Eletricidade do Amapá for Brazilian investor pays US$460 million for Copel in B3 auction Lily Squires 03 September 2021 Credit: Shutterstock/PopTika US$791 million. Back in April water company Aegea Saneamento formed a consortium to win a public bid for water projects in Rio de Janeiro for US$2.9 billion.
Fundo Bordeaux has acquired state-owned telecoms companies before. It bought Sercomtel, a major internet services provider in Paraná, for 130 million reais (US$25 million) late last year. Copel has a fibre-optic network of 34,200 kilometres across Paraná, serving around 2.8 million households. The company made its debut on the B3 stock market in 1994 and was the first Brazilian electricity business to be listed on the New York stock exchange.
Counsel to Fundo Bordeaux
• In-house counsel: Pedro Borba
• Wald, Antunes, Vita e Blattner Advogados: Partners Arnoldo Wald Filho and Eduardo Cezar Chad, counsel Giovanna Gallo and associate Paulo Funari.
• Cascione Pulino Boulos Advogados: Partners Fábio de Souza Aranha Cascione, Denise Junqueira and Leonardo Espíndola, and associates Gabriel Capella and Maíra Rodrigues
Counsel to Copel Telecom
• In-house counsel: Daniel Pimentel Slaviero, Adriano Rudek de Moura and Luiz Henrique de Mello
• Cescon, Barrieu, Flesch & Barreto Advogados: Partners Cristina Bueno and Roberto Lima, and associates Vitor Stern, Andreia Gonçalves, Francisco Figueira, Júlia Mendonça, Rodolpho Clemente, Matheus Vieira and Erika Souza.
Publicado na Latin Lawyer.