Govt. to Capitalize Distributors After Privatization

Ecuador's government will capitalize the 17 electricity distributors through the sale of 51% of their shares at a privatization sale in February, following a decision by the Solidarity Fund (FS), newspaper Expreso reported. The state will retain the remaining 49% of the shares. These capital injections will have a specific timetable and seek to guarantee the execution of projects to install new networks scheduled for the next few years by rural electrification fund Ferum. The amounts involved have not yet been decided, but the newspaper said FS estimates this year US$30mn will be required to carry out 1,056 projects for networks and service maintenance of the 17 distributors. Regulator Conelec VP Jorge Trujillo said it is not a capitalization "but cash injections the fund will make as a shareholder of the companies in order to extend the service," Expreso quoted.