Companhia Energetica do Ceara (Coelce)

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Coelce distributes electricity in the state of Ceara, Northeastern Brazil and had close to 1.5 million customers and its energy sales exceed 4,700 GWh in 1997, when it was privatized. Coelce became a public company in October 1995 and was listed in the main Brazilian stock exchanges. Its privatization process started in 1997 and was implemented in two phases. In the first phase, the state government of Ceara auctioned 15% of the company’s total stock (41% of preferred or non-voting shares) in the regional stock exchange in May 1997. The sale raised US$ 90.5 million (R$ 97.6 million) from different private investors. In addition, the preferred or non-voting shares owned by local governments were auctioned weekly in stock exchanges during 1997 transferring a substantial amount of preferred or non-voting shares to private investors. In the second phase, which took place in April 1998, the government sold 51% stake capital (82% voting stake) for US$ 820 million to Distriluz Energia Eletrica S.A. ("Distriluz"), a Brazilian company owned by CERJ (36.5%), Enersis (15.6%), Chilectra (10.4%), and Spanish Endesa (37.6%). In 2009, the company was granted US$ 20 million (BRL 40 million) loan from BNDES to finance its investment in infrastructure. After an internal restructuring, in September 1999, the corporate control of Coelce (91.7% of its voting capital, representing 56.59% of the total capital) was transferred to Investiluz S.A., a Brazilian company comprising CERJ (36.5%), Enersis (15.6%), Chilectra (10.4%), and Endesa (37.6%). Taking into account the participation that both Spanish Endesa and Enersis have in CERJ, their percentages in Coelce after the restructuring were 25.68% and 19.76% respectively. In addition to the consortium, other private investors have 35% and Eletrobras has 7.06% of Coelce’s total capital. 2007 figure does not include requisitos legales