Because Saipem sinks in Algiers
A court in Algeria fined Saipem 192 million euros for how to award a LNG contract. The company said it will appeal the decision. And he postponed the presentation of the new strategic plan to March
Still tensions for Saipem. Here because.
SAIPEM MULTATA
Saipem, the energy infrastructure company in financial difficulty , has received a fine of 192 million euros from Algeria.
WHAT HAPPENED
Yesterday the Algiers court ruled in the first instance in the proceeding – opened in 2019 – concerning Saipem and the method of awarding a contract for the LNG3 Arzew project, on liquefied gas.
The project dates back to 2008, was developed by the Algerian state oil company Sonatrach and involved the construction, by Saipem, of a liquefaction "train" (it is the slang name of one of the units that make up a gas liquefaction complex natural).
WHAT HAPPENS NOW
Saipem has made it known that it will challenge the decision of the Algerian court, recalling in a note how the Italian justice has already analyzed the procedures for assigning the disputed project and issued, on 14 December 2020, a final acquittal sentence against the company.
THE ACCUSATION
In addition to Saipem and its Algerian division, Snamprogetti SpA Algeria Branch is also involved in the decision of the Algerian court. The three companies are accused of price increases and false customs declarations. Some former employees of the Saipem group were also sentenced to five and six years of imprisonment.
THE POSTPONEMENT OF THE NEW STRATEGIC PLAN
The decision of the Algiers court comes at an extremely delicate moment for Saipem which, after the profit warning issued at the end of January, is discussing a financing plan with shareholders ( the largest are Eni and CDP Industria ) and with creditor banks. The company's market valuation is around € 1 billion, but the estimated net debt for 2021 is expected to be € 1.5 billion.
Today Saipem announced that on March 15th it will forward a new strategic plan to the board of directors – updated with respect to the very ambitious one of October 28th – and that it will present it to investors the following day. However, the plan was expected to take place on 24 February: perhaps a sign of how the situation inside the company is particularly critical.
However, on 24 February Saipem will present the guidelines of the new 2022-2025 plan, as well as some financial data.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/energia/saipem-algeria-multa/ on Tue, 15 Feb 2022 13:09:24 +0000.