Belo Monte Transmissora de Energia

Active

In February 2014, Consorcio IE Belo Monte, a partnership of the Brazilian state-owned companies Furnas (24.5%) and Eletronorte (24.5%) and the Chinese company State Grid (51%), was awarded the contract to build and operate the 2092-km transmission line Xingu - Estreito C-1 PA/MG (800 kV) running through the Brazilian states of Para, Tocantins, Goias e Minas Gerais. Besides Consorcio IE Belo Monte, two other companies took part in the bidding process: Abengoa Construcao Brasil LTDA and Consorcio BMTE (Taesa and Alupar). Belo Monte Transmissora offered the lowest guaranteed revenue of US$ 184.9 million or BRL 434.6 million (38% below the ceiling established by the regulatory agency ANEEL). In June 2014, the sponsors signed a 30-year concession contract with ANEEL. The special purpose company Belo Monte Transmissora de Energia SPE S.A. was established to lead the project. The total investment was estimated at US$ 1762.1 million (BRL 5.6 billion). In June 2016, the sponsor was granted a US$ 335.4 million (BRL1.12 billion) financing package: a 6-month bridge loan was closed with Banco Itau BBA SA (BRL 203 million), a 6-month bridge loan was closed with Banco Santander SA (BRL 200 million) and a 1-year bridge guarantee was provided by BNDES (BRL 708 million). In March 2017, the sponsor was granted a long-term financing package of US$ 805.5 million (BRL 2.56 billion) from BNDES. The remaining cost was set to be equity financed. The construction works started in May 2015, and the commercial operations were expected to commence in February 2018. The sponsors were granted the right to take part in the government program called Regime Especial de Incentivos para o Desenvolvimento da Infra-Estrutura (Reidi). Companies selected to take part in this program were given tax cuts in the acquisition of capital equipment and construction material acquired both in the domestic and international markets (this incentive represented a cost reduction of about 9.25%). In addition, the company was allowed to use accelerated depreciation methods of accounting for construction expenditures.