Corporate Governance and NYSE Standards

  • Significant Differences between our Current Corporate Governance Practices and NYSE Corporate Governance Standards

We are subject to the NYSE corporate governance listing standards. As a foreign private issuer, the standards applicable to us are considerably different than the standards applied to U.S. listed companies. Under the NYSE rules, we are required only to: (a) have an audit committee or audit board, pursuant to an applicable exemption available to foreign private issuers, that meets certain requirements, as discussed below, (b) provide prompt certification by our chief executive officer of any material non-compliance with any corporate governance rules, and (c) provide a brief description of the significant differences between our corporate governance practices and the NYSE corporate governance practice required to be followed by U.S. listed companies.

In view of Brazilian Law 13,303/16 and new requirements of Novo Mercado Listing Regulations, the following discussion summarizes the significant differences between our current corporate governance practices and those required of U.S. listed companies:

  • Majority of Independent Directors

The NYSE rules require that a majority of the board must consist of independent directors. Independence is defined by various criteria, including the absence of a material relationship between the director and the listed company. While the Brazilian Corporate Law did not previously have a similar requirement, Federal Law No. 13,303/16 established that at least 25% of the members of the board of directors must be independent. Under the Novo Mercado Regulations, our board of directors must evaluate the independence of directors before their election to the board. Such evaluation shall be based on a declaration prepared by the nominee. Additionally, Brazilian Corporate Law, Federal Law No. 13,303/16 and the CVM have established rules that require directors to meet certain qualification requirements applicable to a company’s directors. However, they do not require that we have a majority of independent directors, as required under the NYSE rules. Under our current bylaws, approved on April 29, 2021, our board of directors must have a minimum of seven members, and 25% of the board must be independent, as established by Federal Law No. 13,303/16 and as defined under Novo Mercado Regulations. Currently, six of our ten directors are independent, pursuant to the Novo Mercado Listing Regulations and Federal Law No. 13,303/16. We believe these rules provide adequate assurances that our directors are independent.

  • Executive Sessions

NYSE rules require that the non-management directors must meet at regularly scheduled executive sessions without management present. The Brazilian Corporate Law does not have a similar provision. According to this Law, up to one-third of the members of the board of directors can be elected from management. Our bylaws provide that the CEO shall integrate the Board of Directors, while holding such position. All other members of our board of directors meet the NYSE’s definition of “non-management” directors. There is no requirement in the Brazilian Corporate Law that non-management directors meet regularly without management. However, the Internal Charter of the Board of Directors establishes that, by resolution of the Chairman of the Board, meetings may be held exclusively for external directors, without the presence of executives. Our board of directors consists of nine non-management directors.

  • Fiscal Council

Under the Brazilian Corporate Law, the Conselho Fiscal, or fiscal council, is a corporate body independent of management and a company’s external auditors. The fiscal council may be either permanent or non-permanent, in which case it is appointed by the shareholders to act during a specific fiscal year. A fiscal council is not equivalent to, or comparable with, a U.S. audit committee. The primary responsibility of the fiscal council is to review management’s activities and a company’s financial statements, and to report its findings to the company’s shareholders. The Brazilian Corporate Law requires fiscal council members to receive as compensation at least 10% of the average annual amount paid to a company’s executive officers. The Brazilian Corporate Law requires a fiscal council to be composed of a minimum of three and a maximum of five sitting members and respective alternates.

Under the Brazilian Corporate Law, the fiscal council may not contain members that (i) are on our board of directors, (ii) are on the board of executive officers, (iii) are employed by us or a controlled company, or (iv) are spouses or relatives of any member of our management, up to the third degree.

Currently, our fiscal council consists of five sitting members and his/her alternates. The fiscal council members generally meet once a month.

  • Audit Committee

NYSE rules require that listed companies have an audit committee that (i) is composed of a minimum of three independent directors who are all financially literate, (ii) meets the SEC rules regarding audit committees for listed companies, (iii) has at least one member who has accounting or financial management expertise and (iv) is governed by a written charter addressing the committee’s required purpose and detailing its required responsibilities. However, as a foreign private issuer, we need only to comply with the requirement that the audit committee meet the SEC rules regarding audit committees for listed companies to the extent compatible with Brazilian Corporate Law and Federal Law No. 13,303/16 (the Brazilian State-owned Companies Law). Our audit committee, which is not equivalent to, or comparable with, a U.S. audit committee, provides assistance to our board of directors on matters involving accounting, internal controls, financial reporting and compliance. The audit committee is mainly responsible for assisting and advising the board of directors in its responsibilities to ensure the quality, transparency and integrity of our published financial information and financial statements. The audit committee is also responsible for supervising all matters relating to the Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, accounting, internal controls, the internal and independent audit functions, compliance, risk management and internal policies, such as the related parties transaction policy. The audit committee comprises three members appointed by the board of directors, and, pursuant to our bylaws, the members of our audit committee may be appointed simultaneously to their election to the board of directors or by a subsequent resolution. The members of the audit committee shall perform their duties for the duration of their respective terms as board members or until otherwise decided by the shareholders’ meeting or by the board of directors. In the event that an audit committee member resigns or is removed from office after exercising any portion of his or her term, such member may only rejoin the audit committee at least three years from the end of his or her term. All members meet the independent membership requirements of the SEC and NYSE as well as other NYSE requirements.

  • Nomination/Corporate Governance and Compensation Committees

NYSE rules require that listed companies have a nomination/corporate governance committee and a compensation committee composed entirely of independent directors and governed by a written charter addressing the committee’s required purpose and detailing its required responsibilities. Required responsibilities for the nomination/corporate governance committee include, among other things, identifying and selecting qualified board member nominees and developing a set of corporate governance principles applicable to the company. Required responsibilities for the compensation committee include, among other things, reviewing corporate goals relevant to the chief executive officer’s compensation, evaluating the chief executive officer’s performance, approving the chief executive officer’s compensation levels and recommending to the board non-chief executive officer compensation, incentive-compensation and equity-based plans.

Under the Brazilian Corporate Law, we are not required to have a nomination/corporate governance committee or compensation committee. However, Federal Law No. 13,303/16 and State Decree No. 62,349/16 established the requirement of a committee with the responsibilities of verifying the nomination process of the members of the management and of the fiscal council. In our annual shareholders’ meeting, held on April 27, 2018, our bylaws were amended in order to, among other things, create the Eligibility and Advisory Committee in compliance with Federal Law No. 13,303/16 and State Decree No. 62,349/16.

This committee must be composed of up to three members, elected by a general shareholders’ meeting, without a fixed term of office. Members must have at least three years’ professional experience in public administration, or three years’ experience in the private sector in an area in which, or related to which, we operate.

Candidates are assessed based on the CODEC Resolution No. 03/2018 and on our nomination policy, approved by the Board of Directors, which follows the guidelines defined by Federal Law No. 13,303/16, State Decree No. 62,349/16 and Novo Mercado Listing Regulations.

Members of the Eligibility and Advisory Committee may attend board of directors’ meetings where matters related to this committee are discussed and will have the right to speak, but not to vote, in accordance with our bylaws.

This committee is also responsible for verifying the compliance of the evaluation process of the members of the management and of the fiscal council, as well as providing methodological and procedural support to the board of directors to evaluate the performance of officers and other members of statutory committees.

The performance evaluation, individual and collective, held annually, of the members of the management and the members of committees, observing the following minimum requirements, according to the terms of Federal Law No. 13,303/16:

(a) presentation of the acts of management, regarding the lawfulness and effectiveness of the management;

(b) contribution to the earnings for the year; and

(c) achievement of the purposes established in the business plan and fulfillment of the long-term strategy.

We expect that a written charter addressing the committee’s purpose and detailing its required responsibilities will be approved by the board of directors.

Under the Brazilian Corporate Law, the total amount available for compensation of our directors and executive officers and for profit-sharing payments to our executive officers is established by our shareholders at the annual general meeting. The individual compensation and profit-sharing of each executive officer, as well as the compensation of our board and committee members is set out according to our remuneration policy, approved by the Board of Directors, which follows the guidelines from the São Paulo State Government and the CODEC (State Capital Protection Board).

  • Shareholder Approval of Equity Compensation Plans

NYSE rules require that shareholders be given the opportunity to vote on all equity compensation plans and material revisions thereto, with limited exceptions. We do not currently have any equity compensation plan. If such a plan were to be implemented, there is no requirement under Brazilian Corporate Law for the plan to be approved by our shareholders. However, if the issuance of new shares in connection with any equity compensation plan exceeded the authorized capital under our bylaws, the increase in capital would require shareholder approval.

  • Corporate Governance Guidelines

NYSE rules require that listed companies adopt and disclose corporate governance guidelines. We are in compliance with the adoption of corporate governance provisions and guidelines required under the Novo Mercado Regulations, Federal Law No. 13,303/16 and State Decree 62,349/16. See “Item 9.C Markets—Trading on the Brazilian Stock Exchange—The Novo Mercado Segment” and “Item 16.G—Corporate Governance—Required Changes to Corporate Governance Practices of Brazilian Government-Controlled Companies,” our Report on Brazilian Code of Corporate Governance and our policies available on “Corporate Governance” section of our Investor Relations website. We believe that such corporate governance guidelines applicable to us do not conflict with the guidelines established by the NYSE. Our corporate governance guidelines and practices are available on our website at www.sabesp.com.br at the following location: Investor Relations – Corporate Governance.

  • Code of Business Conduct and Ethics

NYSE rules require that listed companies adopt and disclose a code of business conduct and ethics for directors, officers and employees, and promptly disclose any waivers of the code for directors or executive officers. The adoption and disclosure of a formal code is not required under the Brazilian Corporate Law.

However, Federal Law No. 13,303/16, State Decree 62,349/16 and the Novo Mercado Regulations require the adoption of a Code of Conduct and Integrity that should include, among other provisions, guidelines to avoid conflicts of interests, forbiddance of fraudulent acts and corruption, whistleblowing channels, protective measures to avoid retaliation regarding whistleblowers, periodic training on the content of such code and sanctions in case of code violations. We adopt and disclose a Code of Business Conduct and Ethics which complies with the requirements made by the Brazilian laws and regulations, as well as addresses the matters required to be addressed by the applicable NYSE and SEC rules.

We have had a Code of Business Conduct and Ethics since 2006, and the latest version was approved by the Board of Directors in February 2021. It is available on www.sabesp.com.br/investidores, section “Corporate Governance”, and on the Brazilian Securities Commission (www.cvm.com.br).

The Code of Conduct and Integrity is introduced to Company’s Officers, Board of Directors, Board of Auditors, Audit Committee, Eligibility and Counselling Committee and to all the other employees during the integration program which is tailored to their positions.

Moreover, we require our suppliers and other related third-party to comply with our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics as well and the non-compliance acts are subjected to sanctions under the contract and other measures according to applicable laws and regulations.

Any breach of the Code of Conduct and Integrity is subject to internal investigations and disciplinaries measures applicable on a case-by-case basis. The Code of Conduct and Integrity is frequently updated in order to comply with new laws and regulations.

  • Internal Audit Function

NYSE rules require that listed companies maintain an internal audit function to provide management and the audit committee with ongoing assessments of the company’s risk management processes and system of internal control. Our internal audit department is connected to the Board of Directors through the audit committee and reports to our Chief Executive Officer. Our internal audit is responsible for evaluating (i) the adequacy of internal controls, (ii) the effectiveness of the risk management and of the governance processes, (iii) the reliability of the process of collecting, measuring, classifying, accumulating, recording and disclosing events and transactions, to prepare financial statements, and (iv) the proper application of the principle of segregation of duties, to avoid the occurrence of conflicts of interest and fraud.