energy, nuke and geopolitics

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In this blog, you will find articles translated from the French Press about the energy sector in France and Europe. The posts will appear twice a week and will cover the oil and gas sector, renewables, nuclear and mining sectors. Enjoy reading

Spanish industrials restructure their renewables sector

GAELLE LUCAS / JOURNALISTE, CORRESPONDent in MADRID | jan.16^th

ACS shall list its renewables activities on the Stock Exchange.- Mario Fourmy/REA

 ACS

ACS, Acciona and Abengoa deconsolidate their renewables assets.

There has been some leaks for days, which were confirmed Tuesday:

ACS shall list its renewables activities on the Stock Exchange.

The Spanish real estate group shall set up a new company, Saeta Yield, whose assets shall consist in 16 wind turbine parks and 3 thermo-solar infrastructures, presently recorded in ACS’ books.

 All these assets are located in Spain and their installed capacity amount to Mw689.

51% of Saeta capital shall be listed on Madrid Stock Exchange in the coming weeks. This operation will allow ACS “ to exclude an indebtedness amounting to €2 billion over its renewable assets from its consolidation perimeter”, writes Nuria Alvarez, from Renta 4 consultancy.

 Thus ACS hopes to convince investors by expecting to redistribute 90% of Saeta Yield profits in stock dividends. In fact, the group has been trying to focus on its expertise in real estate since several years, and with this deconsolidation, the company finally hopes to reduce its exposition in renewables. In this aim, ACS intends to sell its share of Iberdrola’s capital. Nevertheless, “with the economic crisis combined with regulatory uncertainties in Spain, ACS was compelled to postpone this project because of missing investors”, Nuria Alvarez explains. As the reform has been implemented now and some uncertainties have been raised, the moment to disinvest has come, according to her.

Acciona and Abengoa

Acciona intends to list its renewables assets on the Stock Exchange, as does ACS. But in this case, the assets to be sold are located abroad. Thus in 2015, the group expects to list the joint-venture, incorporated with KKR, an American fund last fall, on the American Stock Exchange; the joint-venture assets will be composed of Acciona’s renewables assets abroad. Conversely to ACS, the group intends to intensify its renewables sector abroad, thanks to the financial power of KKR, whereas its investments have not increased in Spain, after having lost €1,9 billion in renewables assets depreciation in 2013. Then, Abengoa, the engineering group specialised in renewable facilities and water management, intends to list some of its energy assets, particularly renewables, through the incorporation of a new company last June.

Moreover, some weeks ago, Abengoa announced the incorporation of a joint-venture with EIG, an American fund, in order to develop energy projects presently managed by the Spanish company. In Abengoa’s case, this strategy has a clear financial target: the company intends to reduce its heavy indebtedness by deconsolidating the debt linked to the energy projects, which shall be transferred to the first company incorporated early in June (which will be sold before summer, according to “Expansion” daily) and to the joint-venture created together with EIG.