Argentina’s government has formally announced the start of the privatisation process for struggling state-owned waterworks AySA.
The struggling state firm provides water and sanitation services to some 11.2 million people in Buenos Aires and part of its suburbs.
The privatisation plan is part of President Javier Milei’s economic programme. AySA was included in the so-called ‘Ley de Bases’ mega-reform passed last year, which includes a package of economic reforms and a list of state-owned companies that were “subject to privatisation.”
“The privatisation of the company will allow for the modernisation of the sector and improve the price and quality of the service,” said Presidential Spokesperson Manuel Adorni at a press conference.
The process will incorporate “private capital through the transfer of 90 percent of the company's shares, currently held by the state,” he explained.
This will be done through “a national and international public tender” to select a new operator for the company and, in parallel, an “initial public offering to open up the company's capital to other investors,” Adorni added.
He added that the proposal keeps the company's employees as shareholders, with 10 percent of the firm’s share capital.
AySA currently has 6,202 employees, according to official data. The government did not specify whether there will be lay-offs as a result of the privatisation, though it is widely expected.
The company, formally known as Agua y Saneamientos Argentinos Sociedad Anónima (AySA), was originally concessioned in 1993 to the French company Suez and other minor partners.
In 2006, it returned to state ownership when Néstor Kirchner’s 2003-2007 government terminated the contract.
AySA needed contributions from the Treasury worth some US$13.4 billion since its renationalisation until 2023, according to Adorni.
In 2024, the company produced a surplus for the first time since 2007.
– TIMES/AFP
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