Mozambique Energy: Govt to sell 7.5% of HCB to national citizens

The government of Mozambique will sell 7.5% of the Cahora Bassa Hydroelectric (HCB), in a transaction intended to make it easier for new shareholders  to enter the company and which is reserved for Mozambican nationals, who can be either individual citizens or enterprises and institutions, President Filipe Nyusi said in Songo.

Speaking at a ceremony to mark the 10th anniversary of the agreement signed between Portugal and Mozambique to change the shareholder structure of the dam, the Mozambican President said that opening up the company’s capital, through the Mozambican Stock Exchange, will allow new national shareholders to take a stake in the dam.

Under the agreement signed in late 2006 by then Portuguese Prime Minister José Sócrates and by Mozambican President Armando Guebuza, Mozambique would have to pay US$950 million for a stake of 67% in the capital of HCB, after which the Mozambican state would hold 85%, compared to the previous 18% and Portugal would retain 15%, compared to the previous 92%.

Later, the 15% stake owned by the Portuguese State was divided into two halves of 7.5% each, one of which was kept by Portuguese company Redes Energéticas Nacionais (REN) and another was purchased by Mozambican state power company Electricidade de Moçambique for 76.9 million euros.

Nyusi also announced that Mozambique has already paid in full, the debt arising from the amendment agreement of the shareholder structure of the Cahora Bassa Hydroelectric (HCB), 18 months before the date set for the last installment. (macauhub)