Técnicas Reunidas is one of the largest Spanish engineering companies. Founded sixty years ago, it has built refineries, power plants and industrial plants all over the world, and has been part of the large listed Ibex. Its history is long, but the current moment is not short on significance: it has launched the Track brand, won an important contract in Germany and, above all, announced a capital increase with which to take advantage of what its managers call the supercycle of investment and with which to respond to a somewhat more mundane requirement: reduce debt.
During the pandemic, the group was forced to request aid of 340 million euros from Sepi to go to international tenders with the support of the State, like some of its competitors. After that stumbling block, the time has come to grow and lower debt. The solution chosen has been to increase capital to capture 150 million euros.
The operation is already underway and, according to the announced schedule, it will conclude at the beginning of May. The company will issue shares at a price of 6.15 euros, below the listing price, which is around 8.5 euros, and hopes that its shareholders or any interested investor will be attracted by the discount and will be encouraged to buy them.
Of the 150 million, close to half are already guaranteed because the executive president of the company and son of the founder, Juan Lladó, has promised to buy shares in proportion to his current stake, of 37%. Another of the main shareholders, Francisco García Paramés, through the Cobas firm, will also subscribe the equivalent of his 5.87% of the capital.
There are also other commitments, such as that of Azvalor, which has not made an irrevocable statement, but wants to "avoid diluting its stake" of 6%. Several members of the board of directors and senior management will also buy shares. And those that remain unplaced will be insured by various banks, including Barclays, BBVA and Santander.
In a generic way, the operation seeks to "strengthen the group's financial situation" to "support growth" as a result of the "new wave of investment in the industry", indicates the company. Of the money, a third will go to finance low-carbon projects, another to improve the cash position and another to reduce debt by repaying a 33 million loan with ICO and another 14 million with Cesce.
Analysts highlight from the presentation of the company's plan to investors the emphasis with which the executive president alluded to the opportunities of the moment. Since his arrival at the company in 1998, Lladó told investors, he had never seen an investment cycle like this. According to the forecasts of the McKinsey report that the group has distributed to the market, international investments in new energy infrastructures will exceed ten trillion dollars until 2030.
The company already has a portfolio of projects worth 10.7 billion euros, including a 3 billion contract awarded by the Saudi oil giant Aramco to develop energy facilities. Its clients also include giants such as Exxon Mobil or large state-owned companies such as the Algerian Sonatrach.
A few days ago, Técnicas Reunidas was also awarded, together with FCC and the Turkish Enka, a contract to build a regasification plant in Germany. It amounts to 1,000 million euros and has a high symbolic value, since it will make it possible to compensate with liquefied natural gas (LNG) arrived by ship for the cut in Russian gas. It has been the way to show that the group continues in the big international tenders.
The capital increase may serve to incorporate new significant shareholders into the group. For now, the company closed last year with revenues of more than 4,200 million euros, 51% more than in 2021, and a net profit of 13 million.
