Empresa Energetica de Sergipe (Energipe)

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Energipe is an integrated electric utility whose concession area includes 54 municipalities in Sergipe. The company served 350,000 customers in 1997. The company was privatized in November 1997 when the state and federal governments together sold an 86.42% equity stake for US$ 524.6 million (R$577.1 million) to Companhia Forca e Luz Cataguazes-Leopoldina. The sale was made through the Rio de Janeiro stock exchange. Companhia Forca e Luz Cataguazes-Leopoldina (CFLCL) belongs to a Brazilian mining conglomerate. It made a strategic alliance with FondElec, a US private equity investment firm, in December 1996. The Brazilian private company received government support to buy Energipe. The Brazilian Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Economico e Social (BNDES) approved a loan for $289 million (R$320 million) for the winning consortium to help it to pay its offer. This loan is part of a BNDES' program to reduce the capital cost for Brazilian private companies that participate in the privatization program. BNDES is the public agency in charge of the privatization of federal state-owned companies and is privatization advisor to state governments. In 2002, BNDES approved a financing of US$9 million (R$27.26 million) in connection with the losses incurred by Energipe due to the rationing program implemented by the government in 2001. In January 2000, Alliant Energy became a shareholder in Energipe. Alliant Energy acquired 45% of Energipe's total capital and CFLCL reduced its participation to 50%. As of December 2003, there were no changes in the corporate structure of Energipe. Alliant Energy left the partnership in 2006. In 2008, Companhia Forca e Luz Cataguases-Leopoldina was renamed Grupo Energisa because of the regulatory decision that a single company cannot operate in different segments of the energy market. Grupo Energisa's ownership structure is the following: Gipar S.A. (65.8%), Gaster Participações S/A (22.3%), Eletrobras (1.2%), Itacatu S.A. (5.9%), BNDES (0.7%) and other small shareholders (4.1%). The project company's name was also changed to Energisa Sergipe S/A. As of December 2009, the project company was wholly-owned subsidiary of Grupo Energisa. Energipe's infrastructure investment amounted to R$ 29.9 million in 1998 US$ 24.8 million), RS$ 26.8 million in 1999 (US$ 14.8 million) and RS$ 33.3 million in 2000 (US$ 17.1 million). By the end of 2000 the company was supplying electricity to 382,571 consumers units. The total electricity consumption in 2000 was 1,788,000 MWh. In 2001, after investing US$ 14.5 million (R$ 33.6 million) the company saw its consumers units increase to 403,235. However the total electricity consumption in 2001 dropped to 1,661,000 MWh as a consequence of the electricity rationing program carried out by the government. This rationing program was an attempt to overcome the electricity supply crises occurred during 2001. In 2002, with the end of the rationing program in February, the total electricity consumption increased to 1,736,000 MWh, but it was still lower than the 2000 level. During 2002 the company invested US$ 7 million (R$ 20.3 million) and by the end of the year it was supplying energy to 419,719 consumers units. "Luz Para Todos" a government sponsored program, has been excluded from investment figures in 2007. It has been included in 2008 accounting for 48.4 million real out of total inv of 84.7 million real.