Equatorial exits transmission as Verene expands to 4,000 km of lines; deal to close by December 2025
Verene Energia, a power transmission platform owned by global investment group CDPQ, has agreed to acquire Equatorial Transmissão S.A., the transmission business unit of Equatorial S.A.
The deal includes seven power transmission lines totalling 2,430 km, commissioned between 2019 and 2021, across four Brazilian states in the North, Northeast, and Southeast regions.
The concession period for these assets extends until 2047.
The transaction, valued at up to $1.263bn, represents CDPQ's fourth investment in Latin America’s power transmission sector since 2022.
According to Yahoo Finance, this strategic acquisition positions Verene as a growing player in Brazil’s transmission infrastructure.
Emmanuel Jaclot, CDPQ's executive vice-president and head of Infrastructure, said the new acquisition by their platform Verene reflects CDPQ's continued interest in investing in Brazil, which he called “a key market for us.”
Jaclot said that the country’s power transmission sector offers “a stable and predictable regulatory framework that is attractive to our clients.”
He added that Verene now operates over 4,000 km of high-voltage lines and is gaining scale to support Brazil's decarbonization goals.
According to Reuters, Equatorial Energia stated that the sale concludes a profitable cycle of capital allocation in the transmission segment and enables the company to pursue new strategic directions.
The proceeds are expected to support debt reduction, finance new projects, and potentially fund shareholder distributions.
The agreement follows Verene Energia’s earlier acquisition of a 124-km transmission line in Pará, Brazil, in July 2024, according to a CDPQ press release.
That deal, worth up to $210m, was CDPQ’s third transmission investment in the region within two years.
Financial close for the current transaction is expected by December 2025, subject to customary closing conditions and approvals from Brazil’s Agência Nacional de Energia Elétrica (ANEEL) and the Conselho Administrativo de Defesa Econômica (CADE).
