Eletrobras tells investors that criminal privatization can be undone

The company was practically donated to private investors during the Jair Bolsonaro government

247 – Eletrobras has informed investors who buy its US-traded shares that its privatization is contested in Brazil and may be reversed by President Lula’s (Workers’ Party) government. The information was recorded by the company in Form 20F for the fiscal year 2022, which was disclosed on Thursday (20) by regulators in Brazil and the United States, according to Valor Econômico. In March, on TV 247, President Lula branded the company’s privatization a “crime against the country”.

Eletrobras, which is responsible for the generation and transmission of electricity, was the only large state-owned company to be privatized during the government of Jair Bolsonaro (PL). In June 2022, a capital increase diluted Union’s majority stake in the company. In the form, Eletrobras reported that 23 lawsuits are in progress to challenge the privatization model adopted and formalized by the São Paulo Stock Exchange, in the presence of Bolsonaro.

The Company recognized that there was a risk that the privatization would be invalidated by the courts, which would have negative legal and reputational effects, as well as impact the risk rating and value of its shares and securities traded in the United States. The document states, “If the president succeeds in challenging these provisions, the Brazilian government may attempt to regain control over us, which could lead us to roll back privatization back to being a state-owned company for legal purposes with implications from there.”

The company also indicated that President Lula had publicly declared himself against privatization and had asked the General Defender of the Union (AGU) to study the legal grounds for objecting to devices in the company’s regulations that limit the exercise of shareholders’ voting right, regardless of the number of shares.

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