Morgan Stanley | ACS (ACS) continues to reduce its risk profile following the purchase of Abertis and its exposure to assets. This is already discounted in the price. in addition it remains without control over the cash flow of its most important assets (Abertis; ACS/Hochtief/Cimic).
Abertis will pay an extraordinary dividend of approximately 10 billion euros, of which ACS will receive approximately 4 billion euros, and this will allow it, in turn to improve its dividends. Abertis has announced to its shareholders – Atlantia (50%), ACS (30%) and Hochtief (20%) – the distribution of an ordinary dividend between 2018 and 2020 of 2.675 billion euros (891.6 million euros per year).
Of the total of this initial loan, 3 billion euros will remain in the company, 2.2 billion will be repaid in the short term through asset disinvestment like the sale of Hispasat and 29.9% of Cellnex (already completed in June), while another tranche of 4.75 billion will be financed with bonds.
Santander | After the collapse of the Morandi bridge in Genoa, the Italian government has begun the process of terminating ASPI´s concession. The management team could try to negotiate possible solutions to avoid the termination, despite the protection offered by the terms of the contract.
Criteria, La Caixa’s investment arm, and Abertis’ largest shareholder with 21.55%, will take up the offer launched by ACS, Hochtief and Atlantia and will sell the whole of its stake in the Spanish concessionaire.
So here is the final chapter in the story of the bid for Abertis: ACS and Atlantia have agreed to share management of the new company they will create to buy Abertis, in which they will each hold a 50% stake. Both companies want to keep the current management team. The chairman will be Spanish and Abertis’ HQ will be in Madrid.
Spain’s Stock Market Watchdog (CNMV) has finally given its green ligth to the bid from Hochtief, a subsidiary of ACS, for Abertis. The authorisation comes after the news of the talks between ACS and Atlantia aimed at reaching an agreement to put an end to the “bidding war”.
Atlantia and ACS could cease to be rivals in their bid for Abertis and become collaborators in the acquisition. The two companies acknowledged they had had initial talks, as a result of which they would jointly buy Abertis and share out its assets.
The consortium formed by ACS (with 24%), SNC Lavalin, Aecon, Pomerleau and EBC, has been chosen to design and build an automatic train (an underground train without a driver) for the metropolitan area in Montreal, Canada. The contract is worth 825 million euros.
Spain’s Competition Authorities will decide tomorrow whether it will authorise ACS’s bid for Abertis (Atlantia’s offer is already approved). There is also the question of what will happen to Hispasat, a strategic asset for Spain, in which Abertis holds 91%.