Brazil's Sabesp taps banks to handle privatization offering

SAO PAULO, Dec 22 (Reuters) - Brazilian water and sanitation utility Sabesp has selected four investment banks to manage a follow-on share offering that would ultimately privatize the company, it said in a securities filing late on Thursday.

Sabesp, which is controlled by the state of Sao Paulo, said it had picked BTG Pactual, Bank of America, Citi and UBS BB to structure the transaction, which the government expects to be completed by mid-2024.

Sao Paulo, Brazil's most populous and wealthiest state, owns 50.3% of the company and would still hold onto a to-be-determined minority stake following the deal.

Lawmakers in the state earlier this month passed a bill authorizing the privatization, which if concluded would be a major victory for Governor Tarcisio de Freitas.

Sabesp has a market capitalization of 50.74 billion reais ($10.39 billion), according to LSEG Workspace data. ($1 = 4.8844 reais) (Reporting by Gabriel Araujo; Editing by Steven Grattan and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)