EDP - Electricidade de Portugal, S.A (EDP) informs that Enerpaulo - Energia Paulista Ltda. (Enerpaulo), a subsidiary 100% owned by the EDP Group, has publicly announced that it will launch a Public Offering to buy all common and preferred shares in Bandeirante de Energia S.A (Bandeirante) offering 22.20 reais per lot of 1,000 shares. The public offering that will take place in the Bolsa de Valores de São Paulo (Bovespa) will be coordinated by Banco UBS Warburg S.A.
This operation is not intended to de-list Bandeirante. Furthermore, an agreement has been made between Enerpaulo and Draft I Participações S.A (Draft I) - a company owned by Companhia Paulista de Força e Luz (CPFL) - by which Draft I has the option to join the Public Offer launched by Enerpaulo until the 7th of July 2000. The maximum stake that Draft I can acquire is 44%, the equivalent to its participation in Bandeirante's controlling group.
Further details and conditions will be made available when the Offering Prospectus is published after being submitted to and approved by the Comissão de Valores Mobiliários - CVM (the Brazilian Stock Market Regulator).
Bandeirante, an electricity distribution company operating in the State of São Paulo, with 22,052 GWh of sales in 1999, supplies over two million clients in an area of 16,642 Km2.
In September 1998, a consortium formed by Enerpaulo (56%) and Draft I Participações S.A. (44%) acquired 74.88% of Bandeirante's ordinary shares from the São Paulo State for R$1,015 million, gaining control over the company. Bandeirante's capital is made up of 14,705,369,591 ordinary shares and 22,241,713,196 preferred shares. Enerpaulo and Draft I currently own 41.93% and 32.95% of Bandeirante's voting capital, equivalent to 16.69% and 13.11% of its total capital.
The offer launched by Enerpaulo will allow a substantial decrease of the average price per share paid by EDP, and will also increase the participation in the company's economic results, thus significantly enhancing the potential return on the investment made.