📋 Tender Overview
Project Number
51460
Company Name
BASIC SANITATION COMPANY OF THE STATE OF SAO PAULO.
Date ESRS Disclosed
Aug 20, 2025
Country
Brazil
Region
Latin America and the Caribbean
Last Updated Date
Aug 20, 2025
Environmental Category
B - Limited
Status
Active
Previous Events
Approved : May 29, 2025
Signed: Jul 21, 2025
Invested: Jul 31, 2025
Sector
Water and Wastewater Utilities
Industry
Infrastructure
Department
Regional Industry INF LAC & EUR
Project Description
The IFC investment consists of a US$50 million five-year anchor investment in an unsecured blue bond to Companhia de Saneamento Básico do Estado de São Paulo ( SABESP or the Company ). SABESP, an existing IFC client since 2022, is the largest water and sanitation service provider in Brazil and among the largest worldwide. The Company, founded in 1973 and recently privatized in Jul-24, provides water and sanitation services to more than 28 million people in 377 municipalities of the State of São Paulo.
IFC use of proceeds consist of financing investments related to the Company’s water loss reduction program by funding the replacement of almost 500 thousand obsolete water meters with smart water meters (the Project ), under a mass replacement program in São Paulo and São José dos Campos, which is projecting to replace 4,4 million outdated meters in total until 2029.
Smart water meters offer several advantages for both clients and SABESP such as providing an hourly monitoring once a day to identify and address eventual leaks quickly and enhanced water conservation efforts.
SABESP smart meters investment plan 2025-2029 is one of the largest globally and the first in Brazil to rollout smart meters at a large scale. It also contemplates a holistic deployment of AMI linked with ICT solutions (e.g., systems, apps for customers) which supplements its own investments focused on modernizing and expanding the water distribution network.
The E&S performance of current investments has been satisfactory based on IFC’s supervision to date.
Overview of IFC's Scope of Review
IFC’s E&S appraisal was conducted in April 2025, involving a review of relevant project E&S documentation, meetings with various stakeholders, and a site visit. This assessment built on the appraisal findings and E&S performance information gathered from IFC’s previous investments in SABESP (SABESP UCL, disclosed on 05/10/2022, SABESP UCL II, disclosed on 04/27/2023, and SABESP UCL III, A loan and B loans, disclosed on 07/26/2024 and 04/28/2025 respectively).
The review aimed at assessing the effectiveness of the company’s corporate E&S Management System (ESMS) to monitor and manage the project scope and organizational capacity and at reviewing E&S risks, impacts and corresponding controls and mitigations associated with the Project to be financed by IFC. The review was supplemented by a site visit conducted in April 2025, which included assessment of the E&S capacity of contractors implementing the smar
