SABESP Announces Grant of Additional Trading Period by the NYSE

USA - English

• USA - English
• USA - English

SAO PAULO, Feb. 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Companhia de Saneamento Basico do Estado de Sao Paulo - SABESP (NYSE: SBS; BM&FBovespa: SBSP3), one of the largest water and sewage services providers in the world based on the number of customers, hereby informs its shareholders and the market in general that the New York Stock Exchange Regulation's Listing and Compliance Committee and the NYSE Regulation senior management agreed to provide the Company, in light of its delay in filing its annual report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2008 with the SEC, with up to an additional four-month trading period, which will expire on May 16, 2010, subject to the NYSE's reassessment on an ongoing basis.

The Company has not yet filed its 2008 20-F with the SEC due to a qualified report issued by its independent auditors for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2008. The qualification was caused by a lack of provisions for losses relating to the controversial issue of supplementary pension plan benefits provided for by Law 4819/58, originally under the responsibility of the State of Sao Paulo, but paid by Sabesp, by force of court's decision.

As previously informed, the Company will hold an extraordinary general shareholders' meeting to approve the restatement of its financial statements for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2008 by means of which a provision for expenses relating to the Disputed Amount in the amount of R$409.1 million is recorded in the income for that year. Besides, the proposed restatement also encompasses a provision for the liability related to the actuarial commitment maintained with beneficiaries of Law 4819/58, in the amount of R$535.4 million. The restatement of the Company's financial statements for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2008 does not affect the reconciliation of the financial statements prepared under Brazilian GAAP to U.S. GAAP, since under U.S. GAAP the amounts of the new provisions were already accounted as an expense in the Company's statement of income.

The restatement of the financial statements enabled the Company's independent auditors to issue an unqualified report for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2008. The Company expects to be able to file its 2008 20-F within the additional trading period.

    For further information, please contact:
    Mario Arruda Sampaio
    Phone: (55 11) 3388-8664
    E-mail: [email protected]

    Angela Beatriz Airoldi
    Phone: (55 11) 3388-8793
    E-mail: [email protected]

SOURCE SABESP