As fund manager for the Fund for Foreign Investment, FIEX, COFIDES has taken a 21 % holding in ATE III Transmisora de Energía, for a sum of 29 million euros.

ATE III Transmisora de Energía is an Abengoa company founded to run the franchise awarded in Brazil for the construction, operation and maintenance of four electrical substations and three transmission lines:

- Marabá-Itaciaúnas transmission line (39,8 km, 500 kV rated voltage)

- Itaciaúnas-Colinas transmission line (304 km, 500 kV rated voltage)

- Itaciaúnas-Carajas transmission line (110 km, 500 kV rated voltage)

This 30-year franchise was awarded under BOOT arrangements in November 2005 by the Brazilian electricity market operator (ANEEL). The total project investment amounts to 250 million euros.

The ATE III project stands out for its beneficial effect on local economic development, improving the country’s infrastructure and creating an estimated 650 direct jobs. The project is also funded by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). This franchise forms part of the Accelerated Growth Programme (Portuguese initials, PAC) instituted by the Brazilian Government in 2007. The Programme plans to invest on the order of 504 trillion Brazilian reais in infrastructure, including transport, energy, wastewater collection, habitability and hybrid resources.

> Abengoa is an industrial and technology group that engages in solutions for sustainable development, the information and knowledge society and infrastructures. It is headquartered at Seville and present in over 70 countries around the world, where it operates through its five business divisions: solar, bioenergy, environmental services, information and engineering technologies and industrial construction.

The Group began to conduct business in Brazil four decades ago, and has acquired long experience in the construction and operation of Brazilian electric power facilities. ATE III is Abengoa’s seventh franchise in that country.

In 2007, the ATE I project benefited from Fund for Foreign Investment (FIEX) financing. Under that project, an equity holding was also taken in one of Abengoa’s Brazilian subsidiaries franchised to manage electric power transmission lines, specifically the Londrina-Assis-Araraquara lines.