CASAN – Companhia Catarinense de Aguas e Saneamento

What it is

CASAN was created by State Law No. 4,547 on 31 December 1970 and formally constituted on 2 July 1971 to plan, execute, operate and commercially exploit public water supply and sewage services in the state of Santa Catarina. It is a mixed-capital state company serving 195 municipalities — 194 in Santa Catarina plus one in Paraná — making it one of the largest utilities in Brazil’s south.

CASAN directly supplies more than 2.7 million permanent residents, or 39% of Santa Catarina’s population, plus thousands of summer tourists who flock to the state’s Atlantic coast each season. It secures its territory through formal “programme contracts” and agreements signed with municipal governments, which grant CASAN the right to manage, operate and maintain water and sewage systems on their behalf.

Who owns it

The Government of the State of Santa Catarina is the controlling shareholder, holding 64.21% of shares. The remaining state-affiliated stakes are held by SC Parcerias S.A. at 18.03% and by the state electricity company Centrais Elétricas de Santa Catarina (CELESC) at 15.48%.

The structured data shows insiders at 90.25% in total, leaving a public free-float of less than 10%.

Brazil’s national sanitation framework law has opened expectations of sector privatisation, but the current state administration has shown no interest in privatising CASAN. This is a company where political direction and commercial strategy are effectively the same decision.

Who runs it

Edson Moritz leads CASAN as its president, appointed by the state government of Governor Jorginho Mello. The director of Finance and Investor Relations is Carlos Ivan Sturzbecher, who is steering the company’s push to raise long-term funding from multilateral lenders.

In 53 years of history, CASAN has had 29 presidents — a reflection of how closely leadership has tracked successive state administrations. The current team has presided over the sharpest earnings recovery in the company’s recent history.

The money, in plain words

Revenue has grown fast: from R$1.63 billion (~US$317M) in 2023 to R$2.17 billion (~US$422M) in 2025, a rise of 33% in two years (our calculation). Net profit moved even faster — from R$51 million (US$10 mn) in 2023 to R$387 million (US$75 mn) in 2025, a near-eightfold increase over two years (our calculation).

The company ended 2025 with a record net profit of R$387 million (US$75 mn) — 59% above the 2024 result.

It now keeps about 18 cents of profit from every real of revenue — a net margin of 17.9% (our calculation), which is strong for a regulated water utility carrying heavy infrastructure obligations. The balance sheet carries R$2.84 billion (~US$552M) of total debt against barely R$4.8 million (US$934 k) in cash, a net-debt position of R$2.83 billion (~US$551M) (our calculation) — common in capital-intensive utilities, but a number worth watching as the investment programme accelerates.

What it is doing now

In 2025, CASAN deployed R$745 million (US$145 mn) in capital investment — the largest single-year capital spend in its history. Of that total, 54% went to water supply, 43% to sewage treatment, and 3% to administrative and operational improvements.

In sewage coverage — historically the weaker leg of the business — CASAN expanded the number of municipalities served from 38 in 2024 to 57 in 2025. To fund the next phase of that expansion, the company is structuring long-term borrowings from multilateral development organisations, with CFO Carlos Ivan Sturzbecher seeking terms matched to the long payback cycles typical of sanitation infrastructure.

What to watch

• Debt headroom: Net debt of R$2.83 billion (~US$551M) against equity of R$2.60 billion (~US$506M) means the balance sheet is already stretched; the cost and terms of new multilateral loans will be pivotal.
• Regulatory tariff reviews: Revenue depends on tariffs set by state regulators; a below-inflation award could quickly compress the margins that have just recovered so sharply.
• Privatisation signal: Brazil’s national sanitation framework law keeps sector privatisation on the table; the state government’s current stance opposes it, but any shift in political direction in Florianópolis would reset the investment thesis entirely.
• Sewage coverage deadline: Upcoming years carry pressure to comply with Brazil’s sanitation legal framework; missing the mandated coverage targets carries regulatory and financial risk.

This is news, not investment advice.