Essal Opts for Share Sale

Chile’s Essal plans to sell shares, allowing government entity Corporacion de Fomento de la Produccion (Corfo) to reduce its 45% position in the water utility. The sale of 387.7m secondary shares would essentially be an IPO, as Essal shares are illiquid. Corfo had also been considering a direct sale of a stake through an M&A deal, as it looks to get its position down to 5%. This would mimic what it did earlier in the year with its Aguas Andinas, Essbio and Esval, as part of a broad government plan to sell assets to help with reconstruction costs from the 2010 earthquake. The offer period closes December 15, with allocation expected the following day. Banchile, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and IMTrust are managing.