Italian oil and gas company Eni S.p.A (E) said Thursday that it has started the sale of about 6.7 percent of the share capital of Portuguese energy company Galp Energia SGPS S.A. through an accelerated bookbuilding procedure. The company plans to use the proceeds from the sale for general corporate purposes.
Eni said it will sell 55.45 million ordinary shares of Galp in the transaction. The shares are worth 690.3 million euros, based on their closing stock price of 12.45 euros on the Lisbon stock exchange on Thursday.
The shares will be placed with qualified institutional investors, with Goldman Sachs and Mediobanca acting as joint bookrunners. Eni expects to announce the final terms of the offering upon completion of the bookbuilding during the course of Friday.
The offering will enable Eni to complete the sale of its stake in Galp that is freely available for disposal, based on the company's agreement with Portuguese company Amorim Energia B.V. Following the sale of the shares, Eni will hold a 16.34 percent stake in Galp. Eni has sold about 1.3 percent of the share capital of Galp in the previous months.
In early May, Eni said it commenced the sale of 395.25 million shares equal to 11.69 percent of the share capital of Snam S.p.A, a natural gas transportation and distribution services provider, through an accelerated bookbuilding procedure. Following the sale of these shares of Snam, Eni will hold 8.54 percent of the company.
Eni has previously said that it does not want to remain invested in listed companies that it does not control.
E closed Thursday's trading at $46.72, down $0.08 or 0.17 percent on a volume of 357,514 shares.
For comments and feedback: editorial@rttnews.com