Operator News
Brazil – Tender for Lotex delayed for fifth time
By Phil - 26 April 2019
The Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) has delayed the tender for the instant lottery LOTEX for the fifth time. BNDES has set a new date for the tender in order to give potential licensees more time in order to take part, clarify any doubts they might have and deliver their proposals along with any other documents.
The tender was initially scheduled for April 26. With the new schedule, those interested in the business will have now until May 6 to send the envelopes with the proposals. Two days later, the commission will announce the names of the investors eligible to participate in the tender, which will take place the next day in Sao Paulo, at 10 o’clock in the morning.
In 2017, Caixa registered, globally, revenues close to R $ 14 billion. Almost half (48 per cent) of this amount went to social programs. Unions which are against the CAIXA sell off argue that if the sale is carried out, these resources will be reduced drastically as much less money will be allocated to social welfare programmes.
Protesters had planned a protest in front of the São Paulo Stock Exchange to express their opposition tomorrow (April 26). Union leader of The Caixa Employers’ Executive Committee Dionísio Reis said that the focus would be on profits and not on public services if the privatisation goes through. “We can not accept that resources that today finance culture, education, sport and security are earmarked for the private profit of companies and shareholders. It does not make sense to privatize Lotex. For this reason, the resistance of workers and society is essential to stop this threat. We are going to show the government that nobody wants this privatization.”
The Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) a federal public company associated with the Ministry of Development, Industry, and Trade and the main financing agent for development in Brazil is overseeing the privatisation of CAIXA’s instant lottery arm. President Michel Temer issued a decree in 2017 transferring the responsibility for managing the privatisation process of Lotex to both the BNDES and the Ministry of Finance. According to initial estimates released by the Federal Government’s Investment Partnerships Program (PPI) the sale of Lotex would generate around R2.2bn for the government.
However according to Brazilian newspaper Globo, in the first tender, which should have been in June 2018, the government came to project a minimum offer of R$1,000m. However, due to adjustments and successive deferrals, the minimum bid expectation has since been reduced to around R$640m, according to data from the Investment Partnership Program (PPI).
