From today (3) until next Wednesday (8), workers with a formal contract will be able to express interest in buying Eletrobras shares with resources from the Severance Indemnity Fund (FGTS). The period begins to reserve shares in the state-owned company, which is undergoing a privatization process.
The transaction does not represent the actual purchase of shares, which will only occur when the electric company auction is held. The procedure, however, is necessary to confirm interest in the state-owned company’s shares. With the privatization, the federal government wants to reduce the participation in Eletrobras from 72% to a maximum of 45%.
The worker can use from R$ 20 thousand to R$ 50 thousand from the FGTS in the operation. There is also a limit of 50% of the Guarantee Fund account balance. Thus, whoever has a balance of R$ 40 thousand in the FGTS will only be able to allocate R$ 20 thousand for the purchase of Eletrobras shares. In case the employee has more than one FGTS account, he/she can use up to 50% of the balance of each one.
Reservation requests must be made directly on the pages of banks and brokerage firms that maintain Privatization Mutual Funds linked to the FGTS (FMP-FGTS). Currently, financial institutions have web pages with preliminary prospectuses and notices to the market.
Authorization for consultation
Before carrying out the reserve operation, the worker must authorize the financial institutions to consult the FGTS balances and reserve the amounts for application in the FMP-FGTS. The procedure must be done in the FGTS application, from Caixa Econômica Federal, available for smartphones and tablets.
When opening the application, the worker must click on the button “Authorize banks to consult their FGTS”. Then, you must choose the option “Application in the FGTS privatization mutual funds”, select the option “FMP Eletrobras” and choose one of the dozens of administrators (banks and brokers that operate the FMP) that appear. The financial institution chosen must be the same as the one where the worker will make the reservation.
On the same screen, it is possible to simulate the application in the FMP-FGTS. The application itself clarifies that only application with integer values is allowed. Thus, the maximum balance of 50% of the value of each linked FGTS account must be rounded down, disregarding cents.
pricing
The price of each share in the offering will only be set on June 9, one day after the end of the reservation period. Yesterday (2), the state company’s share ended the day quoted at around R$ 43 on the stock exchange, but the value of the offer will only be defined after negotiations between investment funds (among which the FMP), banks and Eletrobras . Individuals do not participate in the process.
Eletrobras allocated R$ 6 billion for the sale of shares to investors who intend to use FGTS resources. The use of the Guarantee Fund represents just one of the ways in which individuals can participate in the auction, scheduled to take place in the second half of the year. If an individual wants to buy shares directly on the day of the auction, without using the FGTS, they can pay between R$1,000 and R$1 million each.
Variation and risks
The worker must be aware of the risks of the operation. As the stock market is variable, Eletrobras’ shares will be subject to fluctuations in the financial market. It will be necessary to have patience and observe the evolution of the papers in the long term, before selling the shares when the prices fall and exiting at a loss.
The investment has a minimum term of one year. Whoever buys Eletrobras shares with the FGTS will have to wait at least 12 months to get rid of the shares. After the sale, the money will return to the FGTS account and can only be withdrawn under the current rules, such as unfair dismissal, real estate financing, serious illnesses or the anniversary withdrawal (withdrawal that occurs once a year in exchange for not having right to receive the balance in the event of dismissal).
