Brazil’s state-controlled utility Eletrobras has launched what may be one of the nation’s largest equity deals on record and lead to the privatization of the power company. Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras SA, as the Rio de Janeiro-based firm is formally known, and Brazil’s development bank BNDES are offering a combined 697,476,856 shares, according to a filing Friday. If the over-allotment is fully sold, it could add as much as 104,621,528 shares to the deal. The sale could raise as much as about 35 billion reais ($7.4 billion) based on the stock’s Thursday close. That would make it Brazil’s second-largest on record, ... (full story)