EDF LAUNCHES A CAPITAL INCREASE OF MORE THAN €3.1 BILLION
PARIS (Reuters) – EDF on Friday kicked off a capital increase of just over 3.1 billion euros, to which the State will contribute most, with the stated aim of ” strengthen the group’s financial flexibility”, faced with the vagaries of its nuclear fleet and the supervision of its tariffs imposed by the government.
The operation will be carried out on the basis of a parity of two new shares for 13 existing shares and a subscription price of 6.35 euros per new share, the subscription period running from March 23 to April 1, 2022 inclusive, says the group.
The Ministry of Economy and Finance confirmed that the State would subscribe to the operation up to its 83.88% stake, for an amount of 2.654 billion euros.
Last month, when revealing its intention to raise fresh capital, EDF mentioned a total amount of 2.5 billion euros and Bercy an investment of 2.1 billion.
“The State thus contributes, as a wise long-term shareholder, to securing EDF’s financial situation and its financing capacity in the short and medium term, and enables the company to pursue its profitable development strategy” , said the Ministry of Economy in a press release on Friday.
According to EDF CEO Jean-Bernard Lévy, “the capital increase we are launching today will allow the group to strengthen its balance sheet structure in the context of the events of early 2022, and to pursue its CAP 2030 strategy.”
On the Paris Stock Exchange, EDF shares opened lower after the announcement of the terms of the capital increase but it gradually erased its losses and gained 0.27% at 10:08 a.m.
The issue price of the new shares issued by the group implies a discount of 29% on the price excluding subscription rights according to Jefferies’ calculations.
The American bank notes, however, that the new shares should be eligible for the dividend.
And above all, she recalls that the title benefited on Thursday from the declarations of Emmanuel Macron, during the presentation of his program for the presidential election in April, on his desire to see the State rise in the capital of “the most sovereign activities of EDF, which could lead to at least partial nationalization in the event of the re-election of the outgoing Head of State.
(Written by Myriam Rivet and Marc Angrand, edited by Matthieu Protard and Jean-Michel Bélot)