Energy firm EDP has acquired a 75% stake in Spanish utility Viesgo from Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (MIRA) as part of a deal which gives Viesgo a €2.7bn enterprise value.
The Lisbon-headquartered company expects to part-fund the deal through a €1.bn rights issue to own the majority stake by adding EDP’s Spanish electricity distribution unit, E-Redes, to Viesgo‘s electricity distribution units, which will in total own €1.8bn worth of assets. MIRA will own a 24.9% stake.
EDP said, as part of the latest deal, it will buy the renewables business of Viesgo for an enterprise value of €565m.
EDP will also buy Viesgo’s two thermal generation plants in the south of Spain, in a deal which gives Viesgo an enterprise value of €2.7bn.
The deal, subject to regulatory approvals, is expected to occur by the end of the year.
Viesgo owns and operates 31,411km of regulated electricity distribution networks in Northern Spain, approximately 500MW of renewable energy generation capacity in Spain and Portugal, and 913MW of soon to be decommissioned thermal coal generation capacity in Spain.
Miguel Stilwell d’Andrade, interim CEO of EDP, said: “This landmark transaction reinforces our positioning at the forefront of the energy transition and marks the beginning of a long-term partnership with Macquarie in electricity distribution networks in Spain, one of EDP’s core markets.”
Juan Caño, head of Iberia for MIRA and a member of Viesgo’s board of directors, said: “It is essential that we continue investing in Spain’s electricity distribution network infrastructure in order to ensure that households and industry continue to have access to a reliable and safe source of electricity.
“By focusing Viesgo on its regulated electricity distribution activities through this long-term partnership with EDP, we can ensure that this critical utility remains at the heart of Spain’s efforts to transition to a new energy mix.”
MIRA has been invested in Viesgo since 2015. In March this year, it acquired the remaining 40% stake it did not already own in Viesgo. Prior to that, MIRA held a 60% stake through its managed funds.
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