VZCZCXRO1066
PP RUEHRG
DE RUEHBR #1366/01 1871852
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 061852Z JUL 06
FM AMEMBASSY BRASILIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6012
INFO RUEHRG/AMCONSUL RECIFE 5087
RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO 2428
RUEHSO/AMCONSUL SAO PAULO 7390
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHDC
RUCPDO/USDOC WASHDC
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BRASILIA 001366
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
STATE PASS EB/IFD/OIA
STATE PASS L/CID
STATE PASS USTR
TREASURY FOR OASIA
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EINV KIDE ENRG CASC ECON OPIC PGOV BR
SUBJECT: BRAZIL: SUBMISSION FOR INVESTMENT DISPUTES AND
EXPROPRIATION REPORT
REFS: A) SECSTATE 60294
1. (SBU) Summary: Per instructions in reftel, US Embassy Brasilia
is aware of two (2) claims of US persons that may be outstanding
against the Government of Brazil (GOB).
Claim 1
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a. Claimants A and B
b. 1999
c. Claimants A and B, along with a Brazilian partner, through a
joint venture (JV), purchased 33 percent of the voting shares of the
electric power company CEMIG from the state of Minas Gerais, for
$1.05 billion in 1997. The acquisition was made through a public
auction promoted by the national development bank (BNDES). The sale
included a Shareholders Agreement that the purchasers executed with
the state of Minas Gerais, giving the JV certain negative control
(i.e., veto) rights over the management of CEMIG and the ability to
nominate some of the executive officers. However, in 1999, a new
state government took office and challenged the validity of the
Shareholders Agreement in a suit filed in a lower state court. The
state court overturned the Shareholders Agreement in 1999, depriving
the JV of the negative control rights. This left the JV with a 33%
ownership stake but no influence over the management of the company.
In 2001, the Appellate Court of Minas Gerais rejected the JV's
appeal and sought to deny the JV access to the Brazilian federal
Superior Court and Supreme Court of Justice, where the JV has
further appealed the decision. Those appeals remain pending.
According to the Claimants, the shares alone, in the absence of a
Shareholders Agreement, were worth no more than $400 million. The
difference in value between purchase price of the JV's shares in
CEMIG and their value stripped of the negative control rights,
according to the claimants, approximates the outstanding balance
($700 million) of a loan extended to the JV by the BNDES to finance
the share purchase. Although BNDES rescheduled that loan, the JV
subsequently went into default on this loan. The JV actively
negotiated with BNDES on ways to settle the outstanding debt. During
2005, U.S. officials repeatedly raised the dispute with senior GOB
officials until the case went to court.
According to the Claimants, the JV and BNDES have come to an
agreement to settle the debt through the sale of a portion of
claimants' shares. The sale is subject to regulatory approval and is
expected to be completed by end summer 2006. Post will notify when
and if the transaction is completed. After numerous attempts since
May 2006 to get further background on next steps, post relies on the
claimants' public statements regarding their case.
Claim 2
-------
a. Claimant C
b. 2003
c. In 1998, the State of Parana auctioned off a 40% voting interest
in the state's sanitation utility, Sanepar. To induce private
investors to provide the needed equity capital, the state offered
the winning bidder a 15-year "Shareholders Agreement" that
guaranteed certain customary minority shareholder protections as
well as provided the investors a limited operating role through the
appointment of three of the seven executive officers of Sanepar. A
consortium of investors purchased the Sanepar stake. Claimant C
holds an indirect $18 million stake in the consortium. A Joint
Venture (JV) between a Spanish and a French company also invested in
Sanepar through this consortium.
In February 2003, the new Parana state governor, Robert Requiao,
unilaterally terminated the Shareholders Agreement and subsequently
replaced two of the three Sanepar executive officers that the
investment consortium had the right to appoint. Having effectively
achieved ownership and management control of Sanepar, Governor
Requiao also amended the company By-Laws without approval of the
minority board members and undertook a debt-for-equity swap with the
state government that diluted the minority shareholders' stakes.
Following the annulment of the Shareholder's Agreement, the French
company sold its interest in the company to its Spanish JV partner.
The JV has fought the state government's actions in the courts,
BRASILIA 00001366 002 OF 002
which have not yet ruled definitively on the case.
In January 2006, the JV partner sought a rescission of a September
2005 Paran state legislature decree voiding the contract between
the Spanish JV partner and the state, but did not receive it.
List of Claimants
-----------------
Claimant A: Mirant (known as Southern Electric at the time of the
purchase)
Claimant B: AES
Claimaint C: Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), through
credit to the Global Environmental Emerging Markets Fund II (GEEMF
II)
WILLIAMSON