Acciona announced last week that the company is studying a modification of its corporate structure to give greater visibility to its strategic business lines, reduce its cost of capital and strengthen its balance sheet. To this end, the Board of Directors has decided to launch the process of an initial public offering (IPO) of the group’s Energy division.
Green transition programs around the world are generating record demand for sustainable infrastructure and, in particular, clean energy. In addition, different countries are launching green recovery plans with the same focus. Finally, there is growing interest from the international investment community in companies that meet the strictest environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) criteria.These circumstances create a great opportunity for additional growth for Acciona over the next decade.
In this context, the creation of a differentiated listed vehicle, which integrates the company’s clean energy assets, would meet market demands and foster Acciona’s growth, with the aim of doubling its current total installed energy capacity by 2025, while freeing up resources for the development of other strategic businesses such as Water, Real Estate and Urban Mobility.
The company currently has an installed capacity of 10.5 GW (5.7 GW in Spain and 4.8 GW internationally), of which 8.3 GW are wind power. In the international area, 20% is owned by Axa after the exit of KKR. In addition, the company expects to install 5 GW by 2024 (+1 GW per year), for which it holds a pipeline of 13 GW.
Acciona expects the IPO to take place this year, market conditions permitting. The perimeter of the new company would include the entire Energy business, excluding the company’s stake in wind turbine manufacturer Nordex. The size and structure of the transaction is yet to be defined, but the free float would at least be 25% of the capital of the new listed company. Acciona, S.A. will maintain a majority stake in the listed company. In principle, Acciona’s Energy business would be listed on the Spanish stock exchange, although the definitive market has not yet been decided.
Bankinter’s analysis team believes that the partial sale in renewables could help the group to obtain a significant injection of liquidity to continue developing its current infrastructure portfolio (which has grown above 13,000 million euros thanks to recent acquisitions), as well as to increase the value of these assets, which in their opinion, when compared to those of other companies in the sector, are being undervalued by the market.
