By Leticia Fucuchima
SAO PAULO (Reuters) -Spanish renewable energy firm Acciona Energia has decided to restructure its businesses in Brazil, it said on Tuesday, after Reuters reported the subsidiary of infrastructure giant Acciona had been downsizing in the country.
The company said the decision to reorganize its unit in Latin America’s largest economy was a way of “adapting to current conditions in the domestic market,” without providing further details.
“Brazil continues to be a key country for Acciona as a whole, and for Acciona Energia in particular,” it said in a statement.
Reuters exclusively reported earlier in the day, citing two sources familiar with the matter, that Acciona was reducing its footprint in Brazil’s renewable energy sector due to difficulties implementing new power generation projects.
Acciona’s move, which came a little over two years after the company first ventured into Brazil’s power generation market, reflects low electricity prices and high debt and equipment costs, according to one of the sources.
The Spanish firm is reducing its staff focused on renewable energy in Brazil to “five or six people” from 40, said that person, who asked not to be named to discuss sensitive issues.
Acciona owns a portfolio of more than 1 gigawatt in renewable projects in Brazil but has not managed to develop those assets due to their low profitability and associated risks, according to that source.
The projects are expected to be returned to their original developers, that person added.
A second source said the Spanish company will now focus on other areas in Brazil, especially construction and services, betting on concessions from the public sector and fresh investments in the sanitation segment.
Acciona participated in an auction on Tuesday to operate some costal highways in Sao Paulo state for the next 30 years, but was outbid by a consortium led by local firm Companhia Brasileira de Infraestrutura.
(Reporting by Leticia Fucuchima; Editing by Brendan O’Boyle and Daniel Wallis)
