Nth chapter in the sale of Talgo. Or buy, depending on how you look at it. Today, rumors of a more than possible takeover bid once again stirred the guts of many. And in the market, too. In fact, the shares of the train manufacturer soared on the stock market throughout the day until close the session with a revaluation of 6.23% up to 3.75 euros per share. Price that means reaching again the level it achieved last October, coinciding with the announcement of interest on the part of the Basque group Sidenor to enter the capital of Talgo, which gave the company a break in its eagerness to find a solution to your complicated situation.
And, according to El Confidencial, the state fund Polish Development Fund (PDF), one of the latest candidates to enter the scene, has already hired the services of Société Générale in order to imminently launch a proposal that will end with the integration of the Polish train manufacturer Pesa, also publicly owned, and the Spanish Talgo.
Furthermore, according to the same information, Société Générale would have offered to contribute to the Polish state fund PFR – which PESA controls – the necessary financing to launch the takeover bid and also refinance Talgo’s own debt.
However, the operation would have to pass the approval of the Government, which fears that a company as strategic for the country as Talgo will end up in foreign hands that will make key decisions for a priority sector such as citizen mobility, according to what they point out. sources, who call this potential situation “dangerous” for the country.
The Government, which wants find a solution before the end of JanBut it has only opened the door for foreign companies to enter Talgo on a minority basis, in such a way as to prevent decision-making from leaving Spain. For La Moncloa, the proposal that would be most satisfactory for the company and for the interests of Spain is that of the Basque group Sidenor, as this newspaper reported.
In reality, among the plans promoted by La Moncloa include setting up a joint operation between the State Society of Industrial Participations (SEPI); a fund dependent on the Basque Government; the owner of the Sidenor steel group, José Antonio Jainaga, as a major industrial partner; and, also with the support of Criteria, the investment arm of the La Caixa Foundation. A proposal that Trilantic rejected outright as it was below those 5 euros.
Furthermore, this last operation would be limited to taking the stake controlled by the Trilantic fund – 29.9% –, so it would not be necessary to launch a takeover bid for 100% capital (legislation obliges all shareholders to present an offer if the level of 30% of a listed company is exceeded).
Remember that, as ABC announced, once the period of the shareholders agreement has ended to jointly sell 40% of Talgo on December 31, each of the shareholders who own this percentage, united by the three in the company Pegaso Transportation Internacional – the Trilantic fund, the Oriol family and the Torreal family – continue to explore and waiting for offers. Now, as ABC has learned, if a new purchase proposal arrives that at least equals that of the Hungarian group Ganz Mavag – those 5 euros per share to take over 100% of the railway manufacturer, which would mean valuing the Spanish company at 619 million euros – “the will of the three main partners will be to sell jointly again.”
What Poland wins
Meanwhile, the Polish press alludes to the advantages for Poland that this purchase or merger would have for its country, among them accelerate the development of high speed (PESA does not manufacture high-speed trains and Talgo does) or facilitate the crossing of trains across the border with Ukraine, something that allows Talgo technology to change the track gauge.
However, the priority of the Spanish Government is ensure the continuity of a historic company for the countryand tries to find a way that this does not impede the legitimate right of its main shareholder, the English fund Trilantic, to obtain the greatest possible benefit from its shares.
In this sense, Sidenor’s offer reaches 4 euros per share, higher than the 3.75 euros at which it is currently listed, but much lower than the 5 euros offered by the Hungarians of Magyar Vagon, which is complicating the negotiations. .
This newspaper also revealed this week the Government’s most ambitious plans to create another great national champion. The objective of the Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Óscar Puente, who has the approval of La Moncloa, is to look for different formulas to create a giant European transport and railway infrastructure operator, based on three companies. Two public ones, attached to said portfolio, Renfe and Adif, and one still private: Talgo itself.
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