Taking advantage of the boom that is having Ecopetrol among investors, and given the needs of funds to pay for important investments in infrastructure, road megaprojects, as the Autopista de las Americas and the booted double to los Llanos Orientales, the Colombian Government is evaluating the possibility of selling a small packet of shares of Ecopetrol. America Economia recently confirmed that the Government is considering selling 10% of the shares of the oil company, operation that would occur in about two months. alvaro Uribe’s Government wants to prevent the infrastructure of Colombia acting as a limiting factor in the growth of the economy and is in this sense that you don’t want to delay investments that had already been made. Investments in infrastructure are not only linked to the construction of roads, but also e.g. to investments to increase the capacity of power generation in the country. Slowly, the Colombian Government would be fasttab thus, of its shareholding in the oil company, which has grown with extraordinary force in the last time.
But the Government’s strategy goes beyond that planned sale of a new 10% of its shareholding. Carlos Caballero Argaez, wrote in a recent article in El Tiempo, on the idea of the Colombian Government’s detached completely from the Ecopetrol shares. For Argaez: Sell Ecopetrol would be an excellent business for the Government and for the private shareholders. Both could be devoted to its raison d ‘ etre. The Government would invest in more profitable activities both economically and socially, as transport infrastructure or education. In turn, the actions of private valorizarian because these would come from an uncomfortable and unpredictable partner.
Do it quickly, moreover, would help revive the economy. The total sale of the holdings of the Government’s shares in Ecopetrol might occur for 2011 when the currently mainly State oil company would go entirely into private hands. Although there may be resistance, as usual, by several sectors of power in Colombia, it be certain that the total privatization of Ecopetrol will positively affect its performance and will allow you to increase your efficiency in the pursuit of maximizing its value. The presence of the State within the stock control has made decisions based on the needs of the Government, as the distribution of important dividends in order to rotate funds to the State. This type of action can limit the availability of funds to keep the oil company the pace of their business expansion, putting a brake to the growth of future benefits. Ecopetrol mobilizes to Colombia and the Colombian Government can leverage the good moment of the oil company to show the world the potential of development of the Colombian economy. Do the positive spill effects may take that? is it generating Ecopetrol in the rest of the economy?