Three competitors were still in the running. In addition to Bouygues, the Eiffage construction group had submitted an offer, as well as the American fund Bain Capital, allied to the French financier Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière, founder of the diversified holding company Fimalac.
Engie has announced that it is entering into exclusive negotiations with the construction group Bouygues for the sale of Equans, the entity bringing together the technical services activities of the energy giant, valued at 7.1 billion euros.
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“Bouygues is committed not to implement any forced departure plan in France and in Europe for a period of 5 years from the completion of the transaction, and to the net creation of 10,000 jobs over 5 years”, specifies Engie in a press release published overnight from Friday to Saturday. Equans generates an annual turnover of more than 12 billion euros and employs 74,000 people worldwide, including 27,000 in France.
Three competitors were still in the running. In addition to Bouygues, the Eiffage construction group had submitted a binding offer. The American fund Bain Capital, allied to the French financier Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière, founder of the diversified holding company Fimalac, had also made an offer. “Bouygues’ offer was the best in terms of all the criteria used by Engie, including from a financial standpoint”, said the French energy giant. “It values 100% of Equans at 7.1 billion euros in enterprise value and will reduce Engie’s economic net debt by 7 billion euros”, he added. Completion of the sale is expected in the second half of 2022, “Once the information-consultation process of the representative bodies of Engie’s personnel has been completed and subject to obtaining authorizations from the regulatory authorities”, adds the press release.
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23.64% owned by the French state, Engie launched the process of selling its subsidiary in early September, under the watchful eye of the government in the run-up to the presidential election. The management of Engie had explained that, in making her choice, she would take into account “The solidity of the industrial project and the quality of the social project contained in these offers”, as well as “The proposed valuation”. The competitors had until this week to submit their firm offers which were studied Friday evening by the board of directors of Engie.
For Bouygues, this takeover project “Is part of the group’s strategic approach aimed at bringing about the emergence of a major player in multitechnical services”, the construction group explained on Wednesday, after submitting a binding offer the day before. An entity created with a view to splitting the technical services activities of the energy giant, Equans brings together air conditioning, heating and ventilation, electricity, digital, mechanical, general services, etc.