Ecopetrol Sets Price in $509m Sale of Stake in Generator

Colombian state oil company Ecopetrol will sell its stake in energy generator Empresa de Energia de Bogota (EEB) for 1,700 pesos ($0.79) a share, raising some $509 million, the government said in a decree.

Ecopetrol owns 6.87 percent of EEB, which is controlled by the Bogota municipal government.

Though the decree, dated Nov. 13, does not specify a date for the sale, it legally must take place no more than two months from the announcement of the offer.

The sale will occur in several phases, the decree said.

Ecopetrol must first offer the shares to employees, former workers, retirees, pension funds and unions, according to the law. Shares not sold in the first round will then be offered to the general public.

EEB recently expressed an interest in buying back the Ecopetrol shares.

Shares in the energy generator were up 1.85 percent to 1,650 pesos in the early hours of trading on the Colombian stock exchange.

Ecopetrol shares were up 0.37 percent to 2,670 pesos.

($1 = 2,160.47 Colombian pesos)

(Reporting by Nelson Bocanegra; Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb; Editing by Alan Crosby)