UPDATE 2-Eletrobras to pay $5.65 bln in overdue dividends

SAO PAULO, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Brazil's state-run utility holding Eletrobras said on Friday it agreed to pay 10.33 billion reais ($5.65 billion) in overdue dividends dating back to the 1970s, sending its shares sharply higher.

The company said it will make the payments in four annual installments in June of 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013.

Shares of the company jumped in mid-afternoon trading in Brazil. Common shares jumped 8.98 percent to 41.63 reais. Preferred shares surged 10.68 percent to 35.04 reais, having leaped as much as 14 percent or more earlier in the session.

Brazil's government had plans of injecting $7.9 billion reais into the state-run company so it could pay the overdue dividends. It owes about 5.3 billion reais to BNDES state development bank and 2.7 billion reais to the federal government, according to a local newspaper earlier this week.

Government funds would also allow Eletrobras, formally known as Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras, to invest in new infrastructure projects to help support growth in Brazil's economy.

($1=1.828 reais)

(Reporting by Elzio Barreto; Additional reporting by Luciana Lopez; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick) Keywords: ELETROBRAS DIVIDENDS ([e-mail]; [phone]; Reuters Messaging: [e-mail]) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.