China Three Gorges earns 292.9 million with sale of 1.8% of EDP
Almost a year after the takeover, the biggest shareholder reduced this Wednesday his stake in a private sale with institutional investors.
China Three Gorges sold this Wednesday part of EDP’s stake. Almost a year after the end of the takeover bid, in which it tried to take over the whole company, the largest shareholder reduced its stake by 1.8%. The almost 66 million shares sold resulted in proceeds of 292.9 million euros for the Chinese state-owned company.
“China Three Gorges (…) announces that it has successfully concluded the sale, with a private offer through an accelerated bookbuild process aimed exclusively at qualified institutional investors of 65,820,000 shares representing approximately 1.8000635% of the share capital of EDP – Energias de Portugal,” announced the majority shareholder of EDP in a statement to the Securities Market Commission (CMVM).
“The total value of the proceeds of the placement reached approximately 292,899,000 million, corresponding to a price of 4.45 euros per share,” the shareholder explains. The value represents a discount of around 2.5% on the price at which the shares closed on the stock exchange this Wednesday (4.566 euros). The placement, in which BNP Paribas and Merrill Lynch International acted as joint bookrunners, took place after the close of the session.
The shareholder held 850,777,024 shares representing 23.27% of the company’s capital. As both the securities held by CTG and those held by CNIC are all attributable to the People’s Republic of China, the total amounted to 28.25% of the voting rights. With this operation, the total rose to 26.5%.
After these four months, the shareholder will be able to reduce its stake once again, because the armouring of the articles of association (which was voted at the last general shareholder meeting and was the point that determined the end of the takeover bid) determines a 25% limitation of the shareholder’s voting rights, regardless of the shareholding.
Since the takeover bid came to an end, the Chinese shareholders have already reduced their stake in EDP. This was the second reduction of shareholders whose stakes are attributable to the Republic of China, after the CNIC sold another block of 49 million shares in November, equivalent to 1.33% of the capital.
