Iberdrola's CEO, Ignacio Galán, met with the President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, during the Spain-Brazil bilateral summit in Barcelona on Friday (17), and highlighted the country's strategic importance in the Group's vision for the future. Iberdrola is a Spanish company that controls Neoenergia, Brazil's largest electricity distribution company, with more than 17 million customers - representing a population of more than 40 million people - and concessions in the states of Bahia, Rio Grande do Norte, Pernambuco, São Paulo and Mato Grosso do Sul, as well as the federal capital, Brasília.

During the meeting, Ignacio Galán conveyed to the Brazilian president the Group's firm commitment to the country, materialized in investments of almost R$40 billion over the last four years, making it the largest investor in the electricity sector in Brazil.

Once the renewal of Neoenergia's distribution concessions in Brazil has been confirmed - Neoenergia Coelba, Neoenergia Cosern and Neoenergia Elektro are currently undergoing this process - Iberdrola's chairman indicated the company's intention to continue investing significantly in this activity in the country over the coming years, to continue expanding and modernizing the networks of all its distributors and electrifying areas such as the west of the state of Bahia, in order to give access to safe, competitive and clean energy to homes and industries, such as agribusiness.

Including its electricity generation, transmission and distribution assets, Neoenergia is present in 18 Brazilian states and the Federal District and has more than 725,000 kilometers of electricity distribution lines and 8,000 kilometers of transmission lines, as well as 3,600 MW of renewable generation, mainly hydroelectric.