T.C. | Acciona yesterday approved the spin-off of its green energy subsidiary, Acciona Energía, of which it will float up to 30%. The press and some Spanish analysts want to value the subsidiary at 12 billion euros, although on March 31 Acciona’s capitalisation on the Spanish stock market was “only” 8 billion euros. The deal could allow Acciona to reorganise and reduce its debt, currently standing at 6.858 billion euros, of which 2 billion matures this year.
Independent analysts estimate Acciona’s Net Financial Debt stood at 4.6 times EBITDA after the sale of assets for almost 500 million euros at end- last year (concessions for four hospitals, two motorways, an irrigation contract and the Barcelona Law School). The sale was highly commented on by analysts, as the buyer was a consortium in which the Meridiam fund and Bestinver, an investment fund manager owned by Acciona itself, participated.
In a meeting with the press yesterday, Acciona’s chairman argued that the IPO of its purely renewable energy business – from which only its stake in Nordex is excluded – will free up capacity for growth in the other strategic sectors where it is present. Moreover, with this transaction, which is earmarked only for institutional investors, Acciona aims to double its installed renewable energy capacity in just five years, from the current 10,700 megawatts to 20,000 megawatts by 2025. In 2020, turnover at Acciona’s energy business fell 10.9% to 1.78 billion euros.
