Iberdrola Moves to Take Full Ownership of Its Brazilian Subsidiary

Iberdrola has launched a public takeover bid for the remaining 16.2 per cent of its Brazilian subsidiary Neoenergia, aiming to take full control and delist the company.  

The Spanish utility and renewable energy developer is offering 32.5 Brazilian reais per share, the same price paid in October when it bought a 30.29 per cent stake from the PREVI pension fund, and expects a total disbursement of about EUR 1.03 billion, before interest and assuming no interim dividend.

Iberdrola said on 24 November that a 100 per cent takeover would “simplify Neoenergia’s structure, providing its operations and financing with greater flexibility and reducing costs arising from maintaining the trading of shares on the market.”  

Neoenergia, which Iberdrola already controls with an 83.8 per cent stake, supplies electricity to nearly 40 million Brazilians through five distributors in six states and 18 transmission lines, making it the largest distribution group in the country by number of customers, according to the company.  

Electricity grids account for 90 per cent of Neoenergia’s business, but the company also has renewable energy projects in Brazil, including offshore wind.

In March 2024, Neoenergia signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the state government of Rio de Janeiro to explore the development of offshore wind projects. The following month, the company deployed a floating LiDAR off the north coast of Rio de Janeiro.

Neoenergia has also applied for environmental investigation licences for offshore wind farms in three Brazilian states: Ceará, Rio de Janeiro, and Rio Grande do Sul. Each project has a planned capacity of 3 GW.

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