Saipem, here are the moves of Intesa Sanpaolo, Unicredit, Eni and Cdp
The energy technology company Saipem, which issued a new (third) profit warning at the end of January that mobilized the main shareholders, has a 500 million euro bond maturing on 5 April.
DIALOGUE WITH INTESA SANPAOLO AND UNICREDIT
The Rothschild investment bank, which Saipem turned to to manage the crisis, and the new financial supervisor Paolo Calcagnini (commissioned by Cassa Depositi e Prestiti), are negotiating a loan agreement with some banking groups, headed by Intesa Sanpaolo and UniCredit, for the payment of the April bond. In total – writes Il Messaggero – the bond is worth 1 billion euros, "out of a total amount of 3 billion".
THE SITUATION OF SAIPEM
For 5 April, however, it is unlikely that Saipem will have received the 1.5 billion euro capital increase that should be approved at the meeting on 23 February, when the data for 2021 will be published. According to the company's estimates released on 31 January last year, its statutory financial statements for 2021 are expected to close with losses exceeding one third of the share capital. Furthermore, compared to the figures released to the public on October 28, when an ambitious investment plan was presented, revenues and EBITDA are 1 billion euros lower.
THE REQUEST OF BANKS
According to the Messenger , the banks would have placed a specific condition on Saipem in exchange for the bridge loan necessary to repay the 500 million bond. In other words, the commitment of Eni and CDP Industria – the two largest shareholders, with stakes of 30.5 and 12.5 percent respectively – to cover the future recapitalization of the company with at least 1 billion euros.
THE RIGIDITY OF UNICREDIT
It seems that, compared to Intesa Sanpaolo, UniCredit is showing itself much more rigid on the entire Saipem affair.
WHAT ENI AND CDP HAVE DONE
Last week Eni and Cassa Depositi e Prestiti appointed two managers who will support the CEO Francesco Caio in Saipem's restructuring plan. They are Alessandro Puliti and Paolo Calcagnini: the former, former general manager of Eni's natural resources division, heads the new general management of Saipem; the second, former general manager of Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, heads the financial control unit.
AUDITS AND INDEPENDENT DIRECTORS
As written by Startmag on the basis of the indiscretions collected , Saipem's board of directors arranged two audits to assess the correctness of company data for Caio and the financial director Antonio Paccioretti. The checks will concern, on the one hand, Saipem's ambitious strategic plan presented on 28 October, and on the other, the company's data for 2021.
Institutional investors in Saipem's board of directors have appointed independent directors: Roberto Diacetti, Patrizia Michela Giangualano and Paul Schapira.
THE WIND ALARM …
Saipem justified the profit warning with the increase in costs for raw materials and logistics, which would have reduced the profit margins of some projects both on land and at sea: the company was talking about offshore wind , and the project in this sense more critical is Hywind in Scotland, which uses floating technologies and the French EDF participates in its development.
MF-Milano Finanza writes that "the EDF problems, mainly due to Covid, would have slowed down the supply chain, and caused an unbridgeable delay in sending the supporting foundations of the turbines, 54, destined for the 2.4 billion project of Euro. The loss accused by Saipem could be higher than the value of the order for 550 million euros ".
… AND ON LNG
More than on offshore wind, Saipem's real focus is on gas, and in particular on liquefied gas (LNG) of which there is limited availability at a global level. Gas is worth more than 80 percent of the company's portfolio, through LNG projects and treatment plants.
The company was therefore particularly penalized by the stop of the LNG Mozambique project in Mozambique, carried out together with the French TotalEnergies: the hope is the reactivation in 2022. The works, in fact, were suspended last year due to the security threats represented. by an Islamist group, linked to the Islamic State, which operates in northern Mozambique: after an attack on the city of La Palma, TotalEnergies 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.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/energia/saipem-intesa-sanpaolo-unicredit-eni-cdp/ on Sun, 13 Feb 2022 15:26:22 +0000.