All tensions in Saipem
Saipem: Eni and Cdp are in fact commissioner Caio, the need for a capital increase, the refinancing of banks, the project with Maire fades and the most critical dossiers. Facts, names, numbers, rumors and scenarios
Eni and Cdp Industria, the two largest Saipem shareholders (with stakes of 30.5 and 12.5 percent respectively), have chosen the managers who will support the CEO Francesco Caio in the company's restructuring and recapitalization plan.
Saipem, which deals with energy technologies, has in fact announced that its statutory financial statements for 2021 will close with losses of more than one third of the share capital. A few months earlier he had presented a completely different outlook and a strategic plan with investments of 1.5 billion.
A profit warning that caused the Saipem share to sink on the stock market, given that on the one hand a capital increase of up to 2 billion euros and a refinancing by the banks for the group's debt are looming.
The move by Saipem's two large shareholders actually marks a sort of commissioner for number one Francesco Caio (which was strongly supported by Eni in the past). Caio now seems destined – according to Startmag's reconstruction – not to be confirmed at the helm of the company before the shareholders' meeting that will approve the financial statements.
WHO ARE THE MANAGERS OF ENI AND CDP THAT WILL MOVE TO SAIPEM
The names of Eni and CDP that will join Saipem are Alessandro Puliti and Paolo Calcagnini. Puliti is general manager of Eni's natural resources division, while Calcagnini is deputy general manager of Cassa Depositi e Prestiti.
Puliti will hold the role of general manager of Saipem, while Calcagnini will be entrusted with the new unit to strengthen the company's financial planning and control activities.
HOW THE NEW SAIPEM STRUCTURE WILL BE
Caio yesterday signed the revision of the corporate structure which provides for the creation of a general management with extensive operational and managerial powers, whose guidance will be entrusted to Alessandro Puliti, who held the position of General Resources Director of Eni (now entrusted to Guido Brusco) and who will have to ensure the necessary boost to the company deeply weakened by the heavy cut in estimates following the extraordinary board of a week ago.
Together with Puliti, Paolo Calcagnini also joins Saipem, leaving his position as deputy general manager and chief business officer of Cassa Depositi e Prestiti to take over the reins of the new unit aimed at strengthening the planning and financial control of orders and other management activities. Calcagnini will therefore join the current CFO Antonio Paccioretti and report directly to Puliti, to whom a new corporate function will also report in which legal and negotiation activities will be concentrated.
THE COMMENT OF THE SUN 24 HOURS
"Puliti will therefore be at the head of a general management with very extensive borders – with Caio who, at this point, is strongly resized by the reorganization – and will have to straighten the course in view of the maneuver to strengthen the capital and financial structure", wrote the Sole 24 Ore .
THE SUBSTITUTE OF PULITI IN ENI
From 7 February Alessandro Puliti will be replaced by Guido Brusco, who will take on the role of general manager of Eni's natural resources division.
PENDING BANKS
Also waiting to hear about the developments are the banks that have renegotiated Saipem's 1 billion euro revolving credit line.
THE MAIRE TECNIMONT DEAL
Saipem's situation also damaged the stock market performance of Maire Tecnimont, an Italian engineering company focused on the energy sector which – the newspaper Repubblica wrote in recent days – would have merged with Saipem. The majority shareholder of Maire Tecnimont is GLV Capital, a company controlled by the entrepreneur Fabrizio Di Amato.
Two days ago, with a note , Maire Tecnimont made it known that "it is not part of any integration project with Saipem".
THE NOTE OF BARCLAYS
Barclays said a possible Saipem-Maire merger, limited to onshore (onshore) construction activities, "would make sense." But many of Saipem's assets, according to the British bank's analysts, have nothing to do with Maire Tecnimont's business model; on the other hand, a spin-off of Saipem and a subsequent combination with Maire “seems implausible to us”.
According to Barclays, the story of Maire, who had insolvency problems, “demonstrates that companies can recover if they do the right things, start de-risking and act efficiently. From our point of view, it gives hope for Saipem's long-term future ”. “But,” he adds, “Maire should be acutely aware of how difficult a balance sheet restatement can be and how long a reintegration process with investors can be. Going back into the unknown would seem a bit rash move for Maire's management team ”.
THE MOST CRITICAL PROJECTS FOR SAIPEM
Saipem justified the losses, the result of an accounting review of past orders, with the increase in the prices of raw materials and logistics, and with the delays encountered in particular in offshore wind projects.
Insiders told Startmag that among the stalled projects for Saipem are: the LNG Mozambique liquefied gas project, in Mozambique; and the Hywind offshore wind project in Scotland.
“Mozambique”, the source explained to Startmag , “is interrupted for the Islamist rebels; when it starts again, the contract will be renegotiated. The Scotland project is a problem, as is the case with contractors ”.
“The clamorous mistake made by Caio”, he continues, “is to have kicked out the entire front line of management without having adequate replacement. The whole structure is destabilized and put on the defensive ".
THE PROJECT IN MOZAMBIQUE
The LNG Mozambique project concerns liquefied natural gas (LNG) and is developed together with France's TotalEnergies, which hopes to reactivate it in 2022. The works, in fact, were suspended last year due to security threats posed by an Islamist group. linked to the Islamic State, which operates in northern Mozambique: after an attack on the city of La Palma, the company ordered the withdrawal of all people from the area and declared force majeure on the project.
LNG Mozambique is valued at $ 20 billion and, according to TotalEnergies initial forecasts, is expected to go into operation in 2024.
THE PROJECT IN SCOTLAND
The Hywind project, in Scotland, consists of an offshore wind farm that uses floating technologies : the turbines are not anchored to the seabed, but placed on floating platforms. The advantage of this technology is that it allows to exploit wind energy even in areas that cannot be used with traditional systems because the depth of the seabed is too high.
Hywind consists of five wind turbines with a capacity of 5 megawatts each. The floating substructure weighs 10,500 tons and the turbine generator 1140. The project is being carried out together with the Norwegian energy company Equinor. The installation of the structures, explains Saipem, was possible "thanks to a proprietary stability frame system developed and manufactured in-house specifically for lifting operations that won the prestigious IStructE 2018 award for the extreme conditions category". The Saipem 7000 ship, two hundred meters long, was used for the project.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/energia/saipem-maire-tecnimont/ on Sat, 05 Feb 2022 07:28:06 +0000.