Japanese looking to buy Chilean water utility - report

The main shareholders of Chilean water utility Aguas Chañar are discussing the injection of new resources into the firm, but the process could end up with the company being sold, as Japanese firm Marubeni is looking to make another effort to acquire control.

Although the main shareholders of the utility - Icafal (40.97%), Hidrosan (40.97%), Vecta Inversiones (13.05%) and Inversiones Aquelarre (5%) - have privately said they are looking to bring in one or more new partners to help Aguas Chañar fulfill an expensive investment plan, they are also discussing the possible sale of 100% of the company to Aguas Nuevas, which is owned by Marubeni and Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ), according to local daily Diario Financiero.

The price of the possible acquisition, which has apparently been under discussion for around two months, would be around US$200mn, according to the newspaper.

Other industry players are thought to be waiting in the wings to see what happens before making any offers of their own for the utility.

In 2013 Marubeni previously tried to acquire Aguas Chañar, which serves residents of the Atacama region (III) in northern Chile, but the deal fell through after six months of talks. However it has now begun due diligence process for a possible acquisition of the firm, according to the report.

Aguas Chañar recently had to expand its planned investments for this year to 10bn pesos (US$16mn) due to the need to rebuild and reinforce existing infrastructure following a series of floods and mudslides.

Aguas Nuevas is the owner of Aguas del Altiplano, Aguas Araucanía and Aguas Magallanes, and through them serves over 425,000 residents of the Arica and Parinacota (XV), Tarapacá (I), Araucanía (IX) and Magallanes (XII) regions, according to data from water regulator SISS.