Argentina · PRIVATISATION
Key Facts
- —New deadline Bids are due by 09:59 on 15 September 2026, with the first envelopes opened at 10:00.
- —The instrument Economy Ministry Resolution 1386/2026, published on 26 August 2026.
- —Stated reason The ministry acted on its own initiative to promote wide participation.
- —What is for sale The state’s entire 90% of AySA, offered to a single strategic operator.
- —The floor A decree requires at least 51% to go to that operator.
- —The obstacle A La Plata court suspended the process in June pending an environmental liabilities audit.
The government moved the date, not the plan. Whether anyone bids on 15 September is a different question.
Argentina has pushed back the deadline for bids to buy AySA, the water utility serving Buenos Aires. Offers are now due on 15 September 2026 rather than 27 August.
Only the date moved. The tender itself continues on the same terms.
What the Resolution Does
The instrument is Economy Ministry Resolution 1386/2026, signed by Luis Caputo on 25 August and published the next day. It approves a modifying circular that carries the actual dates.
Bids must now be in by 09:59 on 15 September, with the first stage opened at 10:00 the same morning. The window for questions on the tender documents closed on 1 September.
This is the first extension. Eight earlier circulars only clarified the documents rather than changing dates, which is why a ministerial resolution was needed this time.
Why the Government Says It Moved
The resolution gives one reason, and it is worth quoting closely. The ministry acted on its own initiative to promote wide participation and safeguard competition, publicity and transparency.
It does not say bidders asked. The procurement platform classifies the circular as a modification made without a query.
Two other explanations circulate in the Argentine press. Infobae reported that bidding companies had sought more time.
Several outlets linked the delay to a legal challenge filed three days earlier.
None of those is the official reason. They are competing accounts, and should be read as such.
What Is Actually on Offer
This is where the plan is often described wrongly. The tender offers the state’s entire 90% of AySA to one strategic operator, not 51%.
The 51% is a floor rather than a target. A 2025 decree requires at least that much to go to an operator through public tender.
Whatever the operator does not take would later be sold on Argentine exchanges. That is a residual route, not a planned public offering.
The remaining 10% is not in play at all. AySA’s employees have held it since 2006 under a worker shareholding scheme.
The Rules the Winner Would Inherit
The concession contract was approved in April 2026 and signed on 7 May. It runs for thirty years and can be extended by ten.
The tariff framework came later, on 21 August, from the water regulator ERAS. It sets the plan for the first tariff cycle, covering 2027 to 2031.
That resolution fixes a real return of 8.90% and an opening regulatory asset base of about 790 billion pesos. Under the contract there is no ordinary tariff review during the first cycle.
The tender is being run without a reserve price. The government has been reported to expect around US$500 million, which is an estimate rather than a valuation.
Who Might Bid
There is no official list of who has taken the tender documents. Everything published comes from Argentine reporting rather than a register.
Infobae has named the local groups Roggio and JCR, and Mauricio Filiberti, whose company Transclor supplies chlorine to AySA. All three have been reported as seeking international partners.
Among foreign operators it has named Brazil’s Sabesp and Aegea, and Chile’s Aguas Andinas, which is controlled through Agbar by Veolia. Israel’s Mekorot took part in consultations but is state-owned and barred by the tender’s rules.
One report suggested the Aguas Andinas side would not ultimately bid. That rests on a single unnamed source and is not established.
The Court Case Nobody Has Resolved
On 17 June 2026 a provincial administrative court in La Plata suspended the privatisation. Judge Mariano López acted on a case brought by the Buenos Aires province ombudsman.
He ordered the process halted until AySA’s accumulated environmental liabilities are established and guaranteed. He also barred cuts to investment and quality standards.
The judge then declared himself without jurisdiction on the merits and sent the file to a federal court. The government appealed on 30 June.
The Rio Times could not establish whether that injunction has been lifted. The tender has visibly continued regardless.
The Other Challenge
On 22 August, five days before the original deadline, the mayor of Esteban Echeverría filed a separate action. Fernando Gray objects that the tender lets the buyer defer structural works for ten years.
He also objects to a clause allowing disconnection for unpaid bills after sixty days for households. No court has been reported as granting him an injunction.
What AySA Is
AySA supplies water and sewerage to the city of Buenos Aires and 26 surrounding districts, plus bulk sewage treatment for a 27th. Reports put the population served at about 14 million.
Water reaches about 75% of that area and sewerage about 63%, on the company’s own 2024 figures. Coverage is far lower in the districts absorbed in 2017 and 2018.
The workforce has shrunk sharply, from about 7,800 in late 2023 to just over 6,000 at the end of 2025. AySA ran an operating deficit in 2023 and says it has covered costs from tariffs since 2024.
The concession contract commits the buyer to heavy spending. It sets out US$1.94 billion in the first five years and about US$15 billion over the full thirty.
Frequently Asked Questions
What was extended, and until when?
The deadline for submitting bids in the AySA tender. Offers are now due by 09:59 on 15 September 2026, with the first stage opened at 10:00.
Why was it extended?
The resolution says the ministry acted on its own initiative, to promote wide participation and competition. Press reports have attributed it variously to requests from bidders and to a court challenge.
How much of AySA is being sold?
The state’s entire 90% holding, offered to one strategic operator. A decree sets 51% as the minimum that must go that way; anything unsold would later go to domestic markets.
Who owns the other 10%?
AySA’s own employees already hold it, through a shareholding scheme dating from 2006. It is not part of what is being sold.
Has a court stopped the privatisation?
A provincial court in La Plata granted an injunction in June 2026 suspending the process pending an audit of environmental liabilities. The government appealed, and the tender has continued.
Connected Coverage
Sources: Boletín Oficial: Resolución 1386/2026 and Circular Modificatoria Nº 9 (26 August 2026); Resolución 704/2026 (15 May 2026); Resolución 543/2026 (28 April 2026); ERAS Resolución 30/2026 (21 August 2026); Decreto 494/2025; CONTRAT.AR; Infobae; Chequeado; Universidad Nacional de General Sarmiento; Municipality of Esteban Echeverría.
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