Naturgy sinks in the stock market due to the lack of agreement between Taqa and Criteria for the takeover bid | Financial markets

Naturgy sinks on the stock market this Tuesday after Taqa, the Emirati energy group, and Criteria, the investment arm of the LaCaixa Foundation, have broken off negotiations to launch a share offensive for the Spanish energy company. The holding company informed the National Securities Markets Commission (CNMV) this Monday that it had “terminated” the conversations with the group “without any agreement having been reached” to launch the takeover bid. The company’s shares fell about 12% in the early stages, after having opened later due to excess volatility.

After three months waiting for a takeover bid that never materialized, the markets are now punishing the energy company. Since the announcement of the negotiations, in April, until this Monday, the share had appreciated by 18% and had reached 25 euros. This Tuesday, in the first stages of the day, it has lost the level of 22 euros, far from the 27 euros per share that were negotiated these months due to the takeover bid.

The conversations became known in the middle of last April when Taqa, an Abu Dhabi group practically unknown in Spain, acknowledged that it had contacts with GIP and CVC, the two largest shareholder funds of Naturgy, which had made it clear that they wanted to exit the company. energy. Since they have more than 20% respectively, and because the 30% limit was exceeded, they would have had to launch a takeover bid for 100% of the company (that is, offer all shareholders to buy their shares at the same price). In parallel, Criteria admitted that it was negotiating with the Emirati group to reach a shareholders’ agreement that would allow it to maintain joint control of the gas company with the Arab group. The Government was informed of the operation which, in principle, it viewed favorably.

The operation, however, has died before it was born. The main disagreement has been, according to several sources, the “insurmountable” difference in the company’s price between the buyer and the sellers, especially CVC, “which stretched the rope too much to the point of dangerous haggling with the Emirati group,” which , finally, broke off the negotiation last weekend. The same sources assure that CVC remained at a price of 27 euros per share, which represented an “unsustainable” valuation of Naturgy for the buyer.

“Criteria will continue looking for new options and it is possible that another interested group could appear, but until this happens the price could be negatively affected,” Bankinter analysts point out in their daily report, where they change their recommendation from neutral to sell. The Australian IFM fund could be one of those alternatives. The bank considers that the negative reaction this Tuesday could be between 5% and 10%.

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