The national government confirmed on Tuesday that the privatization process of Agua y Saneamientos Argentinos (AySA) is ongoing, following the opening of the envelopes with the economic offers submitted by two Argentine business groups.
The proposals aim to acquire 90 percent of the company's shares that provide drinking water and sewage services to the City of Buenos Aires and 26 municipalities in the Greater Buenos Aires area.
The Minister of Economy, Luis Caputo, highlighted the progress through a post on the social network X. He emphasized that the future operator will be required to comply with an investment plan of over 2 billion dollars within five years. This commitment, he explained, will allow for the expansion of the network and significantly improve the quality of service received by users.
Originally, the opening of the proposals was scheduled for the end of August. However, some of the interested companies requested more time to complete the required documentation, and the government agreed to the postponement. Finally, on Tuesday, the formal offers from the two local groups that remained in the running were revealed.
The process is not improvised. At the end of April, the Executive had already approved the concession contracts for a period of 30 years, with the possibility of extending them for up to ten more years. This scheme of share transfer is part of the privatizations authorized by the Bases Law enacted in 2024.
Scope of the service and planned stages
The concession covers 51 percent of the shares that the State holds in AySA. The company provides services in the Federal Capital and in municipalities of the Greater Buenos Aires area such as La Matanza, Quilmes, Avellaneda, Lomas de Zamora, General San Martín, San Isidro, Tigre, Florencio Varela, Merlo, and Morón, among others. It is one of the largest water and sanitation networks in the country.
In a second stage, the government plans to conduct an initial public offering to place the remaining 39 percent of the shares on the stock market. The final 10 percent will remain in the hands of the company's own employees. This way, the transfer of control from the state to the private sector is completed while maintaining employee participation.
The official objective is for the new private operator to immediately assume the investment and service improvement obligations. Caputo insisted that the commitment of over 2 billion dollars is not optional: it is a central part of the contract and aims to address historical deficits in coverage and quality in various areas of the Metropolitan Area.
With the opening of envelopes completed, the process now enters the stage of evaluating the economic proposals. The government seeks to define in the coming times who will be the new controller of AySA and thus finalize one of the most relevant privatizations included in the Bases Law. The note continues to be updated as new details emerge.
