London
Snam is determined to play at the forefront of the single gas market game and to do so, the company headed by Marco Alvera is ready to put on the plate 4.3 billion euro by 2020 to boost the Italian system and integrate it more and more with the European one, focusing on the core business (transportation, regasification and storage) and separating their own destiny from that of Italgas (distribution), destined to land Piazza Affari for November, downstream of a path centered on a partial and proportional demerger. Not to mention the further growth across the border where Snam oversees already firmly the two main European energy corridors.
So yesterday, in the heart of a city still shaken by the response on Brexit, the number one Marco Alvera, flanked by CFO Antonio Paccioretti, outlined the strategic plan 2016-2020 aimed at strengthening the flexibility and liquidity of the Italian market, and by enhancing the transport network, which will be allocated 3.8 billion euro over the plan, thanks to the completion of the two-way gas flow capacity (the so-called “reverse flow”), both providing additional storage capacity. A conjunction that, including the development of new integrated services for operators and a prudent policy of international expansion ( “we are interested only asset with industrial sense but also economic return,” is the mantra of the CEO), should ensure an annual growth Rab (the capital invested for regulatory purposes) at a rate of 1% compared to the 19.2 billion estimated in late 2015, and a attrattativo dividend for shareholders who in 2016 will be paid separately by Snam and Italgas: the first will be 21 euro cents (with a 2.5% annual growth for 2017 to 2018), while the post-demerger of Italgas, still to be decided, should help to ensure an amount at least in line with the overall coupon 2015 Snam (25 cents).
Then there is the section of the separation that occurs with what promises to be one of the largest operations in 2016. The posting states that the transfer of 100% of Italgas under the new company hat to guidance that will come Paolo Gallo, outgoing Grandi stations, centers on three tracks: a contribution in kind, 8.23% of Italgas against which Snam will have 13.5% of the new company; the sale to the new reality of 38.87% of the subsidiary for 1.5 billion; and finally, the partial and proportional demerger of Snam, downstream of which the new company will be given added Italgas package pertaining to the spa of pipelines (52.9%) with its shareholders who, in turn, will acquire the remaining 86 , 5% of the new company.
A dust has settled, in short, Snam – which also approved the repurchase of its shares to a maximum of 3.5% of the capital – will have 13.5% of the new company, while its main shareholder, CDP networks, will own 25.08% plus a 0.97% of CDP Gas (just enough to stay above the threshold of Opa), both assisted by the advisor and Barclays, on the legal front, Chiomenti, while Goldman Sachs has joined Snam, with Cleary Gottlieb Steen & amp; Hamilton and Orrick, Herrington & amp; Sutcliffe as legal advisor. Snam, CDP and CDP Reti Gas also signed a shareholders’ agreement every three years to ensure a stable ownership structure and to protect the rights of Snam as a minority shareholder and a say in any extraordinary transactions. The spa of the gas pipelines will still be able to sell his package before the deal expires. “It’s a financial minority stake,” says the top manager not before it has been defined as “strategic.” “For the rest, no hurry to sell, there is no negotiation on the horizon.”
On the horizon, however, we are the next challenges for the new Italgas. And Gallo, which will be operational in the coming weeks, comes with a very clear mandate: to focus on the opportunities of consolidating Italgas in the Italian market. That, for the company, it means the opportunity to expand its presence beyond the 113 Atem (minimum geographical areas, ie the basins of the races on the distribution defined by Mise and energy authority) already has a presence, backed up by new downstream ammunition separation. Because the path announced yesterday is accompanied by a big-budget package to 3.9 billion (a bridge to the 2.3 billion bonds, revolving credit lines of 1.1 billion bilateral bank lines for 500 million) syndicated with a consortium lot fed (Intesa Sanpaolo, Barclays, Mediobanca, UniCredit, Crédit Agricole, Citi, ING, JP Morgan, Socgen, BNP Paribas and the same CDP) that will allow Italgas, along with two EIB loans by 424 million “inherited” by Snam, the repay intercompany debt (approximately EUR 2 billion on a total of 3.5 billion at the end of 2015) and to support future plans involving investments of 2 billion euro in the next five years and a Rab expected to more than 7 billion at the end of that rationalization of the portfolio, including new contracts taken home and discontinued non-core franchises, that the races will bring with them.
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
No comments:
Post a Comment