Portugal nationalized a majority stake in Efacec Power Solutions in July 2020 after Dos Santos, daughter of former Angolan President José Eduardo dos Santos, became a suspect in a fraud investigation in Angola and had her bank accounts in Portugal seized.
Dos Santos, who owned significant stakes in several other major companies in Portugal, has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
The government intended to reactivate the stake, but in October the first attempt to sell it to a Portuguese company failed, and Parpublica immediately launched a second international tender.
“Parublica received expressions of interest from eight national and foreign entities in the time allowed,” it said in a statement.
Once the pre-selection of candidates has been completed, she said, “the first phase will begin, with the aim of pre-selected potential interested parties submitting binding proposals.”
It did not say when the sale would be completed or the potential deal value.
Efacec has over 2,300 employees in Portugal and the government has cited its importance to the economy due to its innovative projects.
Dos Santos bought his stake in the company in 2015 for about 200 million euros ($210.06 million) through his Winterfell 2 offshore company Limited.
The last time Efacec disclosed its accounts publicly was in 2020, with a loss of €73.4m and a total debt of more than €180m.
($1 = 0.9521 euros)
