Eni has agreed to sell a 9% stake in its low-carbon energy unit Plenitude which values the business at around $11 billion (10 billion euros), the Italian energy major said on Thursday.
Plenitude is active in the market of power generation including renewable energy sources, the sale of energy and energy solutions, and an extensive network of EV charging points.
Eni, Plenitude, and Energy Infrastructure Partners (EIP) have signed an agreement under which EIP will end up owning around 9% of Plenitude's share capital through a capital increase of up to $766 million (700 million euros.
The transaction implies an enterprise value of Plenitude of over $11 billion (10 billion euros), Eni said.
Last year, the Italian major postponed a planned initial public offering (IPO) of Plenitude on the Milan stock exchange, due to deteriorated market conditions since Eni and Plenitude announced an intention to float shares of Plenitude in early June.
"While there was strong and widespread investor interest in Plenitude and important support for its strategy, Eni has concluded that the volatility and uncertainty currently affecting the markets require a further phase of monitoring," Eni said at the end of June 2022.
CEO Claudio Descalzi said in July on the conference call for the Q2 2023 earnings that "Despite highly volatile and challenging conditions over the past 2-3 years Plenitude has delivered on both its operating and financial targets."
Plenitude had 2.5 gigawatts (GW) of installed renewables capacity at end-June 2023, and was on track to exceed 3 GW renewable capacity by the end of this year, up by nearly 50% up year-over-year, Descalzi said.
CFO Francesco Gattei told analysts on the same call that Eni was in an advanced stage of talks to sell a minority stake in Plenitude to a strategic partner.
Commenting on the deal announced today, CEO Descalzi said, "We have achieved an excellent transaction. Thanks to it we highlight the value of Plenitude within Eni; we strengthen Plenitude's financial structure to further support its energy transition and growth path; and we establish a long-term partnership with a leading international financial investor capable of contributing to Plenitude's value creation."
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
Tsvetana is a writer for Oilprice.com with over a decade of experience writing for news outlets such as iNVEZZ and SeeNews. More