Definitely done deal. Atlantia, Acs and Hochtief finalized the agreement signed in March for a joint investment in Abertis. The parties set up Abertis Partecipaciones SA, a company incorporated under Spanish law whose capital is held by Abertis HoldCo SA, a newly incorporated company incorporated under Spanish law whose capital is held by Atlantia 50% (plus one share), Acs 30% and Hochtief 20 % (minus one share). Abertis Partecipaciones SA has acquired, at the price of 18,36 per share, the 98,7% stake in Abertis held by Hochtief, resulting from the voluntary takeover bid on the company completed on 18 May and increased with subsequent purchases on the market - before the delisting of Abertis from the Madrid Stock Exchange – and subsequent transactions. Atlantia is rewarded on the Milan Stock Exchange with a rise of 2,9%.
The growth of Atlantia “outside the borders to compete successfully on global markets has always been the vision of Gilberto and the entire Benetton family. It is a success of Italian entrepreneurship. We pursued it with determination and with his stimulus and encouragement”, was the comment of the CEO Giovanni Castellucci who thus recalls his shareholder, who recently died.
To acquire 98,7% of the share capital of Abertis, the parties have invested a total of 16,5 billion euro. This amount was financed through own funds for 6,9 billion euro transferred to Abertis HoldCo, while the remaining amount was financed through a financial package including a 3 billion euro amortising term loan (maturity between 4 and 5 years), a bridge loan (bridge-to-bond with a maturity of 18,5 months) for 4,7 billion euro, a bridge-to-disposal for 2,2 billion euro (of which 1,7 billion euro will be reimbursed with the proceeds from the sale of the Abertis stake in Cellnex already completed in May 2018).
In a separate transaction, as set out in the same agreement, Atlantia acquired 23,9% of the capital of Hochtief from ACS at a price of €143,04 per share, for a total consideration of €2,4 billion. Atantia financed its capital injection in Abertis HoldCo and the acquisition of 23,9% of Hochtief with cash on hand and a financing package with maturities between 2022 and 2023.
