The plan to float the renewables group on the stock market leaves in the background to enter the engineering sector.

Duro Felguera has gained time to overcome the last frictions that prevented it from signing the rescue plan with the Sepi. But the delays in completing the solution are causing some of the investor groups that had expressed interest in entering the capital of the engineering company to distance themselves from the operation.

According to the sources consulted, Capital Energy, which even presented a non-binding offer for Duro Felguera through an asset-holding company of its founder, Jesús Martín Buezas, does not consider this investment a priority at a time when it is working on the IPO of the renewables group. Sources close to the Asturian engineering company, however, insist that the interest of industrial investors will return when the Sepi enters. The agreement with the investment arm of the State seems imminent once, according to the same sources, the main creditor banks (Santander, Bankia and Sabadell) have accepted the latest terms of the refinancing of the debt of 95 million euros.

Capital Energy has jumped on the wave of renewable IPOs due to the appetite it has aroused among investors. The company is advised by Goldman Sachs, UBS and Pérez-Llorca.

Capital Energy’s valuation could be between 3 billion and more than 4 billion. The range depends on whether only operational projects, under construction and with grid access rights already granted, or the entire megawatt portfolio, even if they are in their earliest stages, are used for the calculation.

The size of its portfolio (some 13,000 megawatts and 10,000 million of investment in five years) is what led the founder of Capital Energy to think of Duro Felguera as its lead installer and presented a non-monetary offer whose validity expired in February (it has not been renewed).

Specifically, the energy company offered several renewable concessions in exchange for shares in the company. The energy developer also undertook to cede workload to Duro Felguera equivalent to 60% of the contracting targets set by the Asturian company in its strategic plan. Duro Felguera expected to reach 2025 with a contracting figure of 700 million euros, although these estimates have been revised downwards.

Source: Expansión.