(An English version will be available soon)
The Spanish energy group Repsol in partnership with Ardian, on the one hand, and EQT on the other, are said to have reached the final stages for the control of PLT Energia, one of the major Italian operators active in the construction and management of wind farms and in the sale of energy electricity from renewable sources to the final customer. Il Sole 24 Ore wrote, specifying that the auction is held by the financial advisor Rothschild and that Repsol and Ardian are said to be interested in the entire business, while EQT would seem to aim only at wind power activities, which alone can be worth up to one billion euros. Should it be decided to proceed with the sale by separating the two businesses, Tages and Sonnedix would be running for the solar part.
The company, based in Cesena, is controlled by the Tortora family (through PLT Holding srl and the sub-holding PLT spa) and 19.26% owned by Fondo Italiano per l’Efficienza Energetica (FIEE) sgr, which in July 2019, through its FIEE I fund, invested 25 million euros in a capital increase for a 15.82% stake and subscribed a convertible bond for other 5 millions (see here a previous article by BeBeez). The operation took place only a few months after the delisting from the then called Aim Italia market (today Euronext Growth Milan), which took place in April of that year, following a takeover bid launched by the Tortora family, which already indirectly controlled the company, with three different holding companies, with a stake of approximately 85%. The takeover bid was launched at 2.8 euros per share and had cost just under 10 million euros.
PLT Energia then closed 2020 with 51.5 million euros in net revenues, a negative ebitda of 27.1 million and a net financial debt of 154.6 million (see here the Leanus report, after registering for free) . It is no coincidence that in November 2020 PLT Holding established PLT spa, to which it conferred the entire stake of PLT Energia, then of 48.9%, for 87.8 million euros and then subscribed in December of the same year a capital increase of PLT Energia itself for 46 millions (see here the 2021 financial statements of PLT spa, available to subscribers of BeBeez News Premium and BeBeez Private Data), thus reaching the current stake of 53.1% and acquiring the necessary finance to finance the construction of plants with a total capacity of 185.1 MW. Meanwhile, for its part, FIEE I has converted into equity the convertible bond subscribed in 2019 and in March 2021, through the FIEE II fund, FIEE sgr has invested another 15 millions in the company (see the press release here).
As for the debt, then, again in the 2020 budget we still read that in December of that year PLT spa also issued a 55 million euro bond, which was placed in private placement with Schroder Securitization (France) and Schroder Securitization ( Luxembourg).
Finally, we recall that in October 2021 PLT Wind, the company that develops wind farms, controlled by PLT Energia, listed on the ExtraMot Pro market a senior secured project bond of 60 million euros maturing on 31 December 2033 with a variable coupon indexed to the rate 6-month Euribor and amortizing repayment structure, which was subscribed by institutional investors, including the SCOR Infrastructure Loans III fund, managed by SCOR Investment Partners (see here a previous article by BeBeez). The proceeds from the bond issue, together with a package of bank lines, were used to refinance a portfolio of 9 wind farms for a total installed capacity of 110.6 MW for 162.3 million euros.
In November 2021 PLT Energia, as part of a large structured operation based on project finance, then signed with UniCredit (as bookrunner, lead arranger and lender mandates), the European Investment Bank and Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (as lenders), a multiline loan agreement, for a total of 92.3 million euros, to support the implementation of greenfield wind projects, under construction, for a capacity of 95 MW. As part of the same operation, PLT Energia has also signed, with CDP and UniCredit, an additional loan, for a total of 43.95 million euros, aimed at refinancing some companies of the PLT Group holding an operating wind portfolio of 74 MW (see the press release here).
At the beginning of September 2021, Pierluigi Tortora, chairman of PLT Energia, on the occasion of the commissioning of a new 16 MW wind farm in the province of Potenza, announced: “The installed capacity of the group to date is equal to 248 MW of plants wind farms in operation, to which other 43 MW will be added, of which 14 MW in Spain, currently under construction. The PLT Energia and SEF groups, for photovoltaics, belonging to the family holding company will thus reach, by the first half of 2022 , an installed capacity of over 350 MW “(see the press release here).
