Brazil's National Electric Energy Agency (ANEEL) has approved the sale of the utility Cia Paranaense de Energia (Copel), which will take place on October 31.

Copel is an integrated generation, transmission and distribution company that serves Brazil’s fifth largest state of Parana. It has an installed capacity of 4598MW, with 17 hydro installations accounting for over 4525MW. ANEEL said that the winner of the privatisation auction will have to increase its power output by at least 20% over a 10 year period.

Analysts say nine major players in the energy market have expressed interest in Copel. They are US-based companies AES, NRG, Duke Energy, Spain’s Endesa, Electricite de France, Belgium’s Tractebel, Hydro-Quebec, Germany’s RWE and Italy’s Enel. Between 76.5% and 90% of voting capital in Copel will be sold at the auction.