MILAN, June 3 (Class Editori) - The SNAM growth plans are going on quickly, by bringing the company near to a new target in the Middle East. The group led by the CEO Marco Alverà could be about to acquire 49% of the gas pipelines of ADNOC, the state energy company of Abu Dhabi. SNAM is part of the group led by Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) and Brookfield Asset Management, in which also the pension fund of the teachers from Ontario, the sovereign fund of Singapore GIC and the South Korean NH Investment & Securities Co are included.
According to some esteems, the whole asset would be approximately worth 15-20 billion dollars; therefore, the value of the share put on sale could amount at about 8 billion. The operation plan relies on a mix between both the equity and debt share, and the latter would account for an important slice.
For this reason, the investment in equity, by taking the partition among the different members of the consortium into account, could be worth around a few hundred million for each. This aspect plays an important role, because it grants a solid financial structure to the group led by Alverà, as well as the opportunity to keep in line with the risk/return profile of the investment, one of the most essential topics for SNAM.
At the same time, the possible operation becomes part of the industrial plan, which strongly focuses on the foreign M&A and represents for the group from San Donato the opportunity to enter an interesting market, which adds the strong boost to renewable energies to its core business.
The interested parties were asked to leave a comment but they refused to; however, according to some leaks, ADNOC would be ready to sign the sale within some weeks or maybe at the end of the month. In March, the possible interest of SNAM was already discussed. On that occasion, the analysts’ comments were positive.
In particular, IMI Bank evaluated this operation favorably, by underlining that “this move represents an opportunity for the SNAM group”. Among the points in favor, the investment bank experts had highlighted that “the company can acquire an asset which generates profits granted for decades; moreover, these assets are part of the SNAM core business”.
For Italy, the geo-strategical value is high, in particular after ENI became a privileged partner of the UAE company, which, together with Qatar, holds the largest stocks of gas worldwide. If the operation, as expected by the market, is successful, the Italian industry will become a key player in the development plans, not only of the UAE, but also of the whole Gulf, where huge investments are forecasted in the following years in order to develop civil infrastructures and services.
(Source: Class Editori)
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