Sâo Paulo state water utility Sabesp (Companhia de Saneamento Basico do Estado de Sâo Paulo), the leading water company in the Americas by number of consumers, has unveiled plans to recapitalize itself in a move to attract private investors. This is part of a 10-year, Reais 20-billion (US$6.1 billion) plan to “universalize” drinking water and sewer service to the whole of Sâo Paulo state.
Sabesp has hired the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation to advise it. The plan is to form a holding company that would hold minority stakes in certain special purpose operating subsidiaries in which private investors will be encouraged to invest in new technologies. The new operating subsidiaries would take over Sabesp’s infrastructure assets, capitalize them after a valuation, and invite domestic and international private investors to buy shares in them