Interest abroad in GEK Terna
The GEK Terna group added liquidity of 79.2 million euros to its arsenal ahead of the large investments it is expected to implement in the coming years.
Besides the cash, the private placement – through an offer book that opened late on Thursday afternoon – also demonstrated the keen interest of foreign institutional investors in participating in the share capital of GEK Terna, even though the placement was made at a price of €13.2 per share, some 5.7% higher than the stock’s price on Thursday, while some of the investors who participated had acquired shares at a much lower level. The average share price of GEK Terna in the last 12 months was €12.90.
GEK Terna said that through this process 6 million shares were allocated (out of 5 million which was the initial target), corresponding to 5.6% of the share capital. The shares were acquired from 10 large institutional portfolios in Europe and the US, so the group’s share capital is now controlled at a rate of more than 25% by foreign investment funds. This is a 30% increase, as before the placement foreign institutionals controlled 17.5% of the company’s share capital.
The funds raised will be used to finance GEK Terna’s particularly demanding investment program, estimated at close to €10 billion. Of these, €4.5 billion concern concessions, PPPs and thermal energy, while an additional €3 billion concern the new concession contract for the Attiki Odos ring road.
Based on the data included in a recent presentation of the group, last month, the management of GEK Terna estimated that from the concession projects and RES it will secure dividends amounting to €11 billion, concerning the total duration of the contracts signed or to be signed in the near future. Of these profits, €8 billion concerns highway contracts and the remaining €3 billion other contracts, such as for example PPP projects, the IPC complex at Elliniko and energy.
The two new contracts for the utilization of Attiki Odos and the Egnatia Odos highway in northern Greece will fetch €6 billion (€3 billion each). Attiki Odos will contribute €300 million annually in operating profits, and Egnatia another €200 million.
