Efacec to finally be sold .. well most of it!

 In Companies, News, Technology and Engineering Systems

Seventy-five per cent of electrical and transport systems company Efacec is to be sold to DST after all on the back of its privatisation process underway with an agreement finally reached with the Portuguese engineering and systems company that had pulled out of negotiations.

The sale of the Portuguese state-managed company has been agreed days before the new António Costa government has appointed its cabinet and portfolio of ministers.
The dossier fo the expected sale will be discussed at a meeting of the Council of Ministers today.
The Government has not officially made any statement about the sale and has not confirmed that it will be discussed this afternoon (Thursday 24 February).
But, according to ECO Online, DST has managed to secure guarantees from the Banco do Fomento for a finance package of around €100 million to be paid back by Efacec over 25 years in what is effectively a corporate mortgage backed the Portuguese State.
The company was nationalised in 2020. The Angolan businesswoman Isabel dos Santos had owned a significant share in the company but following the Luanda Leaks corruption and embezzlement scandal in which the daughter of the former president of Angola, José Eduardo dos Santos was heavily implicated.
At the time, the Government said it intended to make a rapid sale, but after several potential buyers dropped out, it appears that only now that the sale looks set to go through.
The Prime Minister, António Costa told the Observer news source during the elections campaign that DST alone had remained in the running to buy the company, but that its offer was “unacceptable” to the State.
He had also said at the time: “obviously, that during this phase of political uncertainty it is not the best time for the State to negotiate since obviously private companies know that whosever is on the other side of the (negotiating) table is not in the strongest bargaining position. So, when this political crisis is over, when surely the State will recover more of its bargaining power…” he had said.