Washington, D.C., June 19, 2002
– The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, will provide US$30 million of long-term corporate financing to Transportadora de Electricidad S.A. (TDE) of Bolivia.
TDE is a private Bolivian electricity transmission company, which has approximately 2,000 km of high voltage transmission lines and nineteen substations in the country. Red Eléctrica Internacional, S.A. (REI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Red Eléctrica de España, S.A., acquired over 99% of TDE’s shares in June, 2002, as part of its international strategy to expand its holdings in Latin America. REI’s first venture in the region was in 2001 through an investment in Red Electric del Sur, S.A., a private Peruvian transmission company.
IFC’s investment in TDE is expected to support the development of the Bolivian electricity sector and serve to facilitate further investments by REI in the region. TDE is also studying the expansion of the Bolivian high voltage transmission network, including the possibility of interconnecting the transmission grids of Peru and Bolivia.
“Through this investment in TDE, IFC will be facilitating the continued participation of the private sector in transmission services in Bolivia and will signal continued support to a developing country where the electricity sector has been fully unbundled and privatized and a positive track record of reform realized,” said Francisco Tourreilles, Director of IFC’s Infrastructure Department. He further noted that, “IFC welcomes the opportunity of working with Red Eléctrica de España, a leading global provider of transmission services, to support its expansion with investments in emerging markets.”
Bernard Pasquier, Director of the Latin America and Caribbean department in IFC, also noted:” IFC´s financing to TDE demonstrates our continued commitment to support projects which are important to the Bolivian economy."
Luis Ballester Surroca, Joint Administrator of REI, said “Red Eléctrica is very pleased to have achieved this financing agreement with IFC. As part of the strategy to enlarge our operations in emerging markets, we seek to create long-term, stable and prosperous relationships with all of our stakeholders in those regions. We are confident that this transaction with IFC is the first of many more to come in the future.”
IFC’s mission (
www.ifc.org
) is to promote sustainable private sector investment in developing countries, helping to reduce poverty and improve people’s lives. IFC finances private sector investments in the developing world, mobilizes capital in the international financial markets, helps clients improve social and environmental sustainability, and provides technical assistance and advice to governments and businesses. Since its founding in 1956 through FY 2002, IFC has committed more than $34 billion of its own funds and arranged $21 billion in syndications for 2,825 companies in 140 developing countries. IFC's worldwide committed portfolio as of FY 2002 was $15.1 billion for its own account and $6.5 billion held for participants in loan syndications.