Companhiade Eletricidade do Estado da Bahia – COELBA

What it is

Coelba is a Brazil-based company in the electrical-energy sector, operating as a public-service concessionary of electric power — building, running, and commercialising the distribution and sub-transmission networks that deliver electricity to end consumers.

The company serves nearly 6.5 million customers across the entire state of Bahia, making it the sole regulated electricity distributor in an area of roughly 565,000 square kilometres. Coelba was founded in March 1960 and privatised on 31 July 1997.

Who owns it

Coelba is 87.84% owned by Brazil’s Neoenergia, which is in turn approximately 39% owned by Spain’s Iberdrola. The remaining ~12% of Coelba shares trade freely on B3; insiders and related entities control roughly 98.4% of the register, leaving a thin free float of about 1.6%.

The company is part of the Neoenergia Group, which also runs electricity distributors in Pernambuco, Rio Grande do Norte, and the Federal District, giving Iberdrola a wide grip on regulated distribution across Brazil’s north-east.

Who runs it

The electrical engineer Thiago Freire Guth took office as chief executive (diretor-presidente) of Neoenergia Coelba on 10 July, succeeding Luiz Antonio Ciarlini. Guth holds a degree and a master’s in electrical engineering, a post-MBA in innovation, and an executive education qualification from the IESE Business School in Barcelona, Spain.

The company has also named Fabiana Lopes as an incoming senior executive, per the latest Neoenergia Coelba announcement on its concession renewal. The CFO-level role is held within the Neoenergia group structure; the individual title was not separately disclosed in available primary sources.

The money, in plain words

Coelba’s sales have grown from BRL 15.2bn (~USD 2.95bn) in 2023 to BRL 18.4bn (~USD 3.58bn) in 2025 — a 21% rise over two years (our calculation). It keeps about 10.6 cents of profit from every real of sales, a net profit margin of 10.6% (our calculation), decent for a regulated utility that must cap what it charges.

For every real of shareholders’ equity in the business, it earns back roughly 23.5 cents a year — a return on equity of 23.5%, well above the typical cost of capital. The stock trades at only 1.9 times last year’s earnings (a price-to-earnings ratio of 1.9×), an unusually low multiple that partly reflects heavy debt: net debt — what the company owes after its BRL 2.4bn (~USD 0.46bn) cash pile — stands at BRL 18.0bn (~USD 3.51bn) (our calculation).

That debt load is the main risk: interest payments are not well covered by earnings, with net interest cover at 2.7×, which analysts flag as a material concern. On the other side of the ledger, the dividend yield of 12.5% is exceptionally high, reflecting both the low share price and the company’s consistent pay-outs; a cash dividend of BRL 0.496 (US$0.10)per share was declared with an ex-date of 25 June 2026.

What it is doing now

Neoenergia Coelba has announced a record investment plan of BRL 24.7bn (US$4.8 bn) linked to its concession renewal in Bahia, and named Fabiana Lopes as its new chief executive in connection with that announcement. That figure — roughly USD 4.8bn over the concession period — would be the largest infrastructure commitment in the distributor’s history.

In the second quarter of 2025, revenue rose 21% year-on-year to BRL 4.59bn (US$893 mn), and net income doubled to BRL 721m (US$140 mn), though the third quarter was softer as higher costs compressed the margin. The next scheduled results are due around 22 July 2026.

What to watch

• Concession renewal terms. The BRL 24.7bn (US$4.8 bn) investment pledge is tied to the new concession; the regulatory conditions Aneel sets will determine how much of that spending Coelba can recover through tariffs.
• Debt refinancing cost. With BRL 20.4bn (~USD 3.97bn) of gross debt and interest cover at just 2.7×, any rise in Brazilian interest rates hits the bottom line directly.
• Iberdrola’s Brazil strategy. The Spanish parent has been deepening its position in Brazilian renewables; any restructuring of the Neoenergia group — a merger, a sale of minority stakes, or a delisting of Coelba — would move the share price sharply.
• Tariff review cycle. Brazilian electricity distributors undergo periodic tariff reviews by regulator Aneel; the outcome of the next review will set the revenue ceiling for years ahead.

This is news, not investment advice.