Siemens Energy launches a takeover bid for Gamesa with the intention of excluding it from the Stock Market

Siemens Energy announced this Saturday a voluntary cash takeover bid (OPA) for all the shares of Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (SGRE) that it does not yet own, that is, approximately 32.9% of them, with the intention to exclude it from listing, as reported by the Siemens energy subsidiary.

Thus, it will offer 18.05 euros per share, which represents a premium of 27.7% compared to the last unaffected closing price of May 17, 2022 of 14.13 euros per share.

At current market prices, 100% of Siemens Gamesa would be valued at just over 11,279 million euros, so an offer for 33% would exceed 3,722 million euros.

The acquisition financing is fully underwritten by Bank of America and JP Morgan and, assuming the offer is fully accepted, Siemens Energy intends to finance up to €2.5 billion of the value of the transaction with equity or similar instruments, while the remaining amount of the operation would be financed with debt and with available cash.

In the statement, the company highlighted that the transaction will support management’s efforts to resolve SGRE’s current challenges, helping to implement the necessary measures to stabilize the business and unleash its full potential.

“In particular, SGRE will benefit from Siemens Energy’s increased involvement in day-to-day operations and its experience in transformations, especially in areas such as production, supply chain, and project and customer management,” he added.

Following full integration, the combined Group could benefit from anticipated cost synergies of up to approximately €300 million per annum within three years. In addition, revenue synergies amounting to hundreds of millions of euros are also expected by the end of the decade.

For the CEO of Siemens Energy, Christian Bruch, the integration of Siemens Gamesa represents an “important” step in its strategic roadmap with the aim of leading the energy transition.

For his part, the chairman of the Siemens Energy supervisory board, Joe Kaeser, has stated that the operation is an “important” milestone for the positioning of Siemens Energy as a “driver of the energy transition from fossil energy solutions to sustainable energy. ». “The Supervisory Board strongly supports the Executive Committee’s plans for the integration of SGRE,” he said.

Constant rumor of takeover bid

The rumor of a takeover bid by Siemens Energy for its investee had been on the table for some time, although it had been denied until now.

Siemens Gamesa was born in 2017 as a result of Gamesa’s merger with the Siemens wind power division. Then, the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) exempted the German group from presenting a takeover bid due to the objective of the industrial project that the operation had. In 2020, the German multinational increased its stake to 67% after buying its 8% stake in Iberdrola for almost 1,100 million euros, at a price of 20 euros per share.

In recent times, Siemens Gamesa has been especially affected by the volatility of the economy and by the problems in the launch of its 5.X platform, its new large wind turbine, which has led it to chain a succession of ‘ profit warnings’, revising their expectations downwards.

Likewise, he has experienced a succession of changes at the head of the company, the last with the appointment of Jochen Eickholt as CEO at the end of March, succeeding Andreas Nauen in the position.

On May 5, the group announced losses of 780 million euros in the first half of its fiscal year 2022, compared to the ‘red numbers’ of 54 million euros for the same period a year ago.