Cantareira Transmissora de Energia

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In May 2014, Consorcio Cantareira, a partnershiip of the Brazilian state-owned company Copel (49%) and the Spanish company Elecnor (51%), was awarded in a competitive bidding process the contract to build and operate the 328-km transmission line connecting Estreito to Fernao Dias, located at the states of Minas Gerais and Sao Paulo. Only Consorcio Cantareira took part in the bidding process. The bidding criteria set by the regulatory agency ANEEL was the lowest required annual revenue. The sponsors presented the lowest offer, a total value of US$ 22.3 million (BRL 76.9 million), the ceiling set by the regulatory agency. The contract was signed in September 2014, and the sponsors created the company Cantareira Transmissora de Energia to lead the project during the 30-year contract period. The sponsor committed to invest US$ 201.6 million (BRL 695 million) in the transmission line. In December 2016, Cantareira Transmissora de Energia was awarded a US$ 123.8 million (BRL 426.8 million loan from the state-owned bank BNDES. The remaining cost was equity financed. The company was 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 accelated depreciation methods of accounting for construction expenditures.