The French government remains as the core shareholder in Engie, with 24.1%, and will have over a third of the voting rights after this partial stake sale. It raised about €1.5 billion from the transaction. For Bankinter’s analysts:
There was hardly any discount in price of the Engie share placement with respect to the market’s close the previous day. Whatsmore, the stock rose 3.11% yesterday. This positive market reaction is proof of investor appetite for assets which are regulated and have a high dividend yield (4.9% in Engie’s case). Particularly against the current market backdrop (geopolitical uncertainty because of North Korea and the delays in the ECB’s tapering).
Engie, former GDF-Suez’s is a weird construction that only now has a sense of direction under its new leader, Mrs Kocher. About time. There is some value in the company since it has made sense of moving into renewables and environmental services.”