01/06/2009 14h52
AES says it will keep US$ 282.6 million in investments in the country
Valor Econômico 01/06/2009
The AES energy distributing companies located in Brazil will keep the investments foreseen for 2009 and, according to Britaldo Soares, CEO of the company, the adjustments, if any, should be very small. AES Eletropaulo will invest R$ 450 million (US$ 195.7 million) and AES Sul will invest nearly R$ 200 million (US$ 86.9 million) in the maintenance, expansion, and servicing of their basic system. Even if the consumption does not grow next year because of the crisis, these investments are necessary. In the generation segment, however, the company's plans of new investments are still very little defined. The company cannot take loans from the BNDES at the moment, as a result of the renegotiation of the debt related to the purchase of the interest in Cemig (
Electric Energy Company of the State of Minas Gerais) that is being contested in court. Another reason to materialize investments by
Tietê is the fact that the energy generation company has a strong cash flow that makes it easier to raise funds in the capital market, for instance. The company's indebtedness is also low, remaining below 0.5 of the Earning before Interests, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization (EBTIDA). Currently, the new investments are focused on four small hydroelectric power plants in the states of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. The company will need to increase its energy generating park by 15% to comply with the privatization rules of the government of São Paulo. The final term to make such investments has already ended, but AES Tietê is negotiating with the State Government in order to postpone the demand. One of the alternatives would be to purchase new energy from biomass plants, for instance. "Our priority of investment at the time is to comply with this obligation", said Soares. But one of the main interests for new investments of AES in Brazil is Aeolian energy, as the CEO of the group for Latin America, Andrew Vesey, already publicly announced in mid-September. According to some sources of the sector, the company has already set one foot into the Aeolian energy generation in Brazil when it made a loan with the option of turning it into shares in a project of the Proinfa (Governmental Program of Incentives to Infrastructure), in Ceará. The allocation of funds would be of nearly R$ 300 million (US$ 130.4 million).
