Spanish power and gas company Naturgy will be split into two separately listed entities, one focused on infrastructure and the other on power generation and trading, CEO Francisco Reynes said on Thursday.
Both entities will maintain the same shareholding structure and the spin-off, which the company plans to carry out at the end of this year, will not affect jobs or the group’s asset portfolio, Reynes said at a press conference.
“Two listed companies with the same shareholding structure… Two Naturgys, one share for each,” he said.
Naturgy’s shareholders include the Australian fund IFM, private equity firms CVC and GIP, and Criteria Caixa, the investment holding company that is Caixabank’s main shareholder.
The Spanish energy group announced on February 4 that it returned to positive numbers in 2021 thanks to the recovery of economic activity after the break due to the health crisis, added to the sale of stakes in Chile and Egypt.
The energy giant made a profit of 1.214 million euros ($1.39 billion) last year, erasing losses of 347 million euros ($398 million) in 2020.
This net result was higher than the forecasts of the analysts consulted by Factset, who expected an average profit of 1,090 million euros (1,250 million dollars).
On its side, the company’s turnover grew by 44.3% year-on-year, to reach 22.14 billion euros (25.385 billion dollars). In any case, this figure continued to be lower than that registered in 2019 (26,405 million dollars) before the Covid-19 pandemic.
