Brookfield's ISAGEN: a case study on the need for change in the global tax system

The sale of a majority stake in the electricity company ISAGEN in 2016 to a subsidiary of Canadian investor Brookfield was the second largest privatisation deal in Colombian recent history. Since then, ISAGEN has reduced investment and increased profits, and appears to use debt repayments to distribute income to Brookfield subsidiaries in Bermuda, resulting in low tax payments in Colombia, and low investment in the company's workforce. Tax transparency is needed to know with certainty what is happening to these resources that, up until recently, were considered a public good.