The final report released by the Brazilian federal court of audits TCU did not express major reservations over the privatization of the Port of Santos, the largest in the country. The document issued by the Port and Railway Infrastructure Inspection Department, known as Seinfra, was sent to the office of the rapporteur, Minister Bruno Dantas, who wants to debate the process in a plenary session next week. The government voluntarily made two revisions during conversations with auditors. One of them pertained to the increased Weighted Average Capital Cost (WACC), which rose from the 7.35% initially proposed to 8.73% per year. Another was the change in the minimum grant amount, which fell from R$3.015 billion to R$2.557 billion. What is at stake at the court is the privatization of the Santos Port Authority (formerly Codesp) and, together with it, the concession of the port authority to private parties for 35 years, with a possible five-year contract extension (in case of economic rebalancing). The contract provides R$ 6 billion in investments and another R$ 20.6 billion in operating expenses, including dredging.
Sources: Valor Econômico/Datamar News