The company Cox, which operates in the water and energy sectors, began its journey on the Spanish stock market this Friday with a strong 7%, affected by the worsening of market confidence in renewable energies after the presidential elections in USA.
Cox is the third company to debut in the continuous market this year, after Puig and Inmocemento. Puig closed flat on its first day of trading and Inmocemento did so with a decrease of 9.88% last Tuesday.
Cox’s shares, which started at 10.23 euros, the minimum of the set range, with a market capitalization of about 805 million euros, began the first minutes of the session in negative, falling sharply and falling from the 10 euros in the first minutes. Finally, they closed with a decrease of 7.05% that left the price per title at 9.5 euros. It is the company with the worst behavior this year in the continuum.
The company, which is seeking funds for its energy projects and water concessions, had decided to go ahead with the IPO on November 5, just before shares in European clean energy groups plummeted. Donald Trump’s election victory left investors concerned about a possible unwinding of US support for renewable energy.
On Tuesday, Cox reduced the size of its IPO to around €175 million, from around €200 million, to accommodate lower market appetite.
Cox’s IPO has been backed by the Dubai renewable company AMEA Power, with 30 million euros; Cunext Corporation, one of the main suppliers of transformed copper products, with 20 million; and by the founder and president of Cox, Enrique Riquelme, with 15 million. It has also had the support of the company’s second shareholder, Alberto Zardoya, founding partner of the elevator company Zardoya Otis, and the Moroccan bank Attijariwafa Bank.
Cox, founded and chaired by Enrique Riquelme, is a water and energy company that integrated Abengoa and specializes in desalination, reuse and treatment technologies, as well as the generation and transmission of renewable energy. It has a presence in the Middle East, Latin America, Spain, South Africa and North Africa.
In statements to the press after the traditional ringing of the bell at the Madrid Stock Exchange, Riquelme said that Cox, after his jump to the Continuous Market, aspires in the medium term to occupy a place on the Ibex 35, for which he will work on raising his current free float (part of the capital listed on the Stock Exchange), which is currently below 20%.
Riquelme defended the company’s roadmap, which does not foresee distributing dividends in the next three years and will dedicate “every euro that comes in” to generate recurring Ebitda (gross operating result) and thus seek growth. “We will assess what time is appropriate to start distributing by dividing,” he indicated.
In addition, Riquelme announced that Cox is already working on the next business plan. “There are many opportunities that we are seeing in countries that we know very well, in strong currencies and with stable cash flow,” said the manager, who added that Cox’s roadmap is based mainly on the water business, although accompanied by energy area.
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