ACS has accelerated its rise in Hochtief and already exceeds 80% of the capital of the German construction company, shattering its historical highs. In the first nine he has invested 274 million euros.
Last summer, the group chaired by Florentino Pérez multiplied the purchase of securities from its German subsidiary compared to the pace of the first half of the year. Thus, in the third quarter it disbursed 225 million euros, which is added to the 49 million that it had allocated in the first half of the year to increase its control over Hochtief, established as the main growth engine for ACS thanks to the evolution of two of its subsidiaries, the American Turner -especially- and the Australian Cimic.
The Spanish infrastructure giant reported in June a participation of 76.57% of the capital, a percentage that rises to 79.12% discounting treasury stock (at the end of 2023 it accounted for 75.93% and 78.48%, respectively). The 49.5 million invested in the first six months of 2024 translated into an increase in capital of 0.65% (at an average price of 98.73 euros per share).
ACS does not reveal its position at the end of the first nine months of the year or the average purchase price, but Hochtief’s price levels between July and September mean that the 225 million invested would be close to around 2.5% of the capital. Between January and June, Hochtief’s price ranged between a minimum of 104.10 euros and a maximum of 111.90 euros, significantly above the average price at which they had purchased between January and June (98.73 euros).
In this way, ACS’s current participation in the German construction company, which does not reveal it, would be close to 82% (without considering treasury shares), the highest level since it entered its capital almost 15 years ago. At the current price, this control package reaches a value of almost 7.2 billion euros. In its strategic objective of simplifying the structure of the holding, ACS has analyzed in recent years a possible delisting of the German construction company from the stock market, although until now it has not made any decision in this regard.
At the end of 2017, ACS accounted for 72.79% of Hochtief’s shareholders. In October 2018, in compliance with the agreement between ACS and Atlantia – today Mundys – to jointly acquire Abertis, the Spanish group transferred 16.8 million Hochtief shares, equivalent to 24.1% of the capital, to the transalpine concessionaire at a price of 143.04 euros (2,411 million euros). In parallel, ACS subscribed to a capital increase in the German multinational at the same price for which it paid 908 million. At the end of 2018, the Spanish group placed its position in Hochtief at 50.4%, while the Italian group reached 23.9%.
In June 2022, ACS subscribed the vast majority of the new shares that Hochtief put into circulation through a capital increase of 425 million – it covered 85%, equivalent to about 350 million -, thus raising its stake from 50 .4% to 53.6%. Just three months later, in September, the Spanish infrastructure giant bought the 14.46% it held in Hochtief from Mundys for 577.8 million, reaching 68.01%.
In 2023, ACS acquired Hochtief shares representing 7.29% of the capital in exchange for 461.3 million euros (at an average price of 81.47 euros), raising its position to 78.48% without treasury stock (75.93% including it).
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