Engie is not interested in Innogy
The French group does not wish to buy a minority stake in the subsidiary specialized in renewable energies of its German competitor RWE.
The soufflé drops down. This morning, Bloomberg said that Enogie was eyeing Innogy, a company specializing in renewable energies, 77% owned by RWE. The German group reiterated its desire to maintain long-term control (51%) of its subsidiary while recognizing that it was "free to sell shares" by staying above that threshold. Chairman Rolf Martin Schmitz added that he "regularly reviewed the strategic options" of his subsidiary.
For his part, Engie declined to comment. But in the entourage of the group, one sweeps the possibility of becoming shareholder of Innogy. "RWE is looking for a partner to recover money," says a relative of Engie, "but we do not have the interest of being a minority of a large company already controlled." At the end of February, at the presentation of the annual results, CEO Isabelle Kocher said she preferred internal growth but did not exclude "targeted acquisitions" and not large operations.
"We want to control our companies"
"We have always said that we are not interested in financial participations," said another source close to the group. "We want to control our companies." The president of RWE added on Tuesday morning that Inogy enjoyed a "very stable profitability". The renewable energy subsidiary will pay this year 800 million euros of dividend to its shareholders, of which nearly 700 million for RWE.
The purchase of the entirety of Innogy is also unlikely. It would still cost 20 billion euros while Enge is worth 30 billion euros on the stock market. And it would be difficult for him to incur heavy debt while the group still bears 25 billion euros of debts. Especially since the former GDF Suez has set at 2 billion euros its envelope dedicated to acquisitions ...
However, in the long term, RWE may well give up control of Innogy, where part of the capital has already been listed on the stock market in 2015. A sign that development in renewable energies is not a priority. "The shareholders of RWE want to consolidate the market of thermal power plants in Europe, decrypts a good connoisseur of the file, by which they need money and they will be able to sell Innogy". A last, more consensual option would be to set foot at Innogy with an option on a futures takeover. This solution would allow RWE to benefit from the dividends of its subsidiary for a few years. And to Engie to save time to finalize these 15 billion euros of divestitures and find room for financial maneuvers.