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Italgas and Hera sign a binding agreement for the transferral to Italgas of 100% of Medea S.p.A.

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Bologna, 21 December 2017 – Italgas and Hera signed today a binding agreement for transferral to Italgas of 100% of Medea S.p.A. The company has the concession for gas distribution and sale in the city of Sassari.
Medea’s overall enterprise value has been set at € 24.1 million. At the closing of the transaction, the price will be paid entirely in cash, net of debt.
The transaction is expected to be concluded within the first few months of 2018 and is subject to a number of pre-closing requirements.
Medea serves roughly 13,000 customers, all residents in the urban area of Sassari, with annual gas volumes distributed amounting to over 5 million cubic meters. The company’s potential pool is of approximately 30,000 users. The network, which in the future may be converted to natural gas, extends for over 190 km and is currently fuelled by LPG through a storage and production plant located on the outskirts of the city.
Paolo Gallo, CEO of Italgas, has commented as follows:
“The agreement reached today is in line with the objectives set out in our Strategic Plan and, alongside the recent operation involving Ichnusa Gas, further strengthens the presence of Italgas in Sardinia. We have already planned 200 million euros of investments for the next few years, with the aim of providing the island with modern gas distribution networks in view of the more concrete prospect of the construction of the infrastructures that will bring natural gas to the Region”.
Stefano Venier, CEO of the Hera Group, has stated:
“This transaction is part of a broader process of rationalising the Hera Group’s investments and concentrating on its reference territories. Our thanks go to the Sassari customers and administration for their fruitful collaboration during these years. In any case, we are pleased to sell Medea to a fully reliable counterpart with strategic interests in the Region”.

Italgas: EIB grants a new loan for a total of EUR 360 million to strengthen the network

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Milan, 19 December 2017 – Italgas has signed today a loan agreement with the European Investment Bank (EIB) for a total amount of € 360 million for the financing of some initiatives aimed at strengthening its distribution network and making the gas distribution system even more efficient and secure.

The Project, named «Network Upgrade», consists in the extension and expansion of the gas distribution network, the installation of smart meters and the modernization and replacement of existing assets in order to improve the safety and operational efficiency of the network.

The 360 million Euro loan will be at floating rate and will run for 20 years, of which 5 years will be pre-amortisation, at market conditions particularly. Disbursement is expected by the end of December, as well as the repayment of a previous EIB loan of EUR 300 million.

The closing of this loan is part of Italgas’ strategy to optimise its financial structure, both in terms of reducition of the cost of funding and extension of the average duration of EIB loans, totalling 784 million euro, making the Group one of the largest Italian counterparties of the Bank, supporting the significant investment plan envisaged in the Company’s Strategic Plan.

Italgas focuses on sustainable mobility and renews the entire company fleet with methane cars by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles

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Turin, 18 December 2017 – Today, with the delivery in Turin of the first cars, the company’s entire Italgas fleet is being renovated with methane powered vehicles by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. In the next few days similar deliveries will be made in Rome and Naples, two of the main cities where the Italgas Group operates.

For Italgas – the most important operator in Italy in the natural gas distribution and the third largest in Europe – this is an important step along a virtuous path that will lead to a considerable reduction in harmful emissions into the atmosphere, contributing to making the air in the cities where it operates more breathable.

A sinistra Paolo Gallo CEO Italgas, a destra Alfredo Altavilla COO FCA EMEA (1)

The delivery of the cars took place at the historic Italgas area of Corso Regina Margherita in Turin. On the occasion, Alfredo Altavilla (Chief Operating Officer for the EMEA area of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles) and Giacomo Carelli (CEO of FCA Bank and Leasys) have symbolically handed over the keys to Paolo Gallo (CEO di Italgas) and Paolo Bacchetta (CEO of Italgas Reti).

The conversion of the company’s fleet into methane gas – the first in Italy to be completely methane – is one of the initiatives launched under the Italgas 2017-2023 Industrial Plan, which also included the construction of over 120 self-consumption gas filling stations within the 40 suitable technical areas.

Currently, the Italgas Group’s fleet is composed by 2,500 vehicles and over the next 12 months will be replaced with the latest “natural power” models of FCA: Panda, Panda Van, Fiorino, 500L, Doblò, Qubo and Ducato, all of them naturally fuelled by methane, in line with Italgas’ demands that considers the key of its development to be sustainable and efficient.

Today, methane for transportation is an intelligent and environmentally sustainable choice. It is an ecological, safe, practical and economical fuel. Its use reduces by up to 43% (mixed with biomethane, in the well to wheel optics) CO2 emissions and by 94-95% those of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and PM particulates.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles’ commitment to natural gas dates back to the nineties of the last century: an Italian technology, which FCA has created and grown, among the first manufacturers to believe and invest in the development of this type of power supply. Today it is among the leaders in the European market, with about 45 percent share, more than 740 thousand cars and commercial vehicles sold since 1997 and Panda, the most popular methane car ever, with more than 300 thousand vehicles sold.

Leasys confirms its role as a leader in the management of corporate fleets and in the rental sector during this partnership with Italgas. In fact, the FCA Bank company responds to the needs of every type of customer (with different characteristics and needs) with flexible and innovative solutions and offers. For example, formulas that reward the shift from ownership to use of the vehicle and that allow for positive spill-over effects in terms of congestion, improvement of the environment and reduction of vehicle costs.

Italgas: completed the acquisition of Enerco Distribuzione S.p.A.

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Milan, 6 December 2017 – Italgas has today completed the acquisition of 100% of Enerco Distribuzione S.p.A. from H2C S. p. A., upon the fulfilment of the obligations for H2C S.p.A. envisaged in the agreement.

The total value of the transaction is EUR 51 million and has been paid in the amount of EUR 38 million per cash and in the amount of EUR 13 million through taking charge of the debts of the Company.

Enerco Distribuzione owns 27 concessions in the provinces of Padua and Vicenza, manages a network of more than 800 kilometres of pipelines and serves about 30 thousand users.

The completion of the operation, which is in line with the growth strategy set out in the 2017-2023 Business Plan, allows Italgas to strengthen its presence in an area in the North-East of the country considered of great importance for the development of the Group and to put into practice the possible synergies with the assets it already manages in the region.

Italgas acquires from CPL Concordia 7 gas concessions in the South of Italy

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Milan, 30 November 2017 – Italgas has signed today a binding agreement with CPL Concordia for the acquisition of a portfolio of 7 gas concessions in Southern Italy, for a total of 16 municipalities.
The overall valuation of the portfolio (enterprise value) has been set at 13 million Euros. At the closing of the transaction the price will be paid entirely in cash, net of debt. Completion is expected by March 2018 and is subject to certain pre-closing requirements.
In particular, the agreement covers the acquisition by Italgas of the following items:
  • 3 concessions for the methanisation of Barano, Lacco Ameno and Casamicciola on the island of Ischia;
  • one concession for the methanisation of the island of Procida;
  • one concession for the methanisation of the Calabria Basin 12 composed of 10 municipalities in the province of Reggio Calabria;
  • 2 concessions for the methanisation of the municipalities of Favara and Siculiana in the province of Agrigento.
Among the 7 concessions acquired, some are currently under construction and others will be developed in a short term; one of them – the one relating to the island of Procida – is close to coming on stream.
The total investment for the construction of the networks amounts to 95 million Euro, partly financed by public contributions. To date works already carried out amount to approximately 28 million Euro (gross of subsidies).
Once completed, the infrastructure will have a total length of more than 400 kilometres and will serve a potential pool of approximately 32,000 new customers.
The transaction is part of a larger context of collaboration between the two companies aimed at enhancing their respective assets and expertise in the construction and management of gas distribution networks and plants.

Italgas acquires 100% of Ichnusa Gas S.p.A.

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Through the transaction, Italgas plays a pivotal role in the methanisation project of Sardinia

Milan, 8 November 2017 – Today Italgas has signed a binding agreement with CPL Concordia and Impresa Costruzioni Ing. Raffaello Pellegrini S.r.l. for the acquisition of 100% of Ichnusa Gas S.p.A., a holding company controlling 12 firms with 12 concessions for implementing and operating gas distribution networks in 81 Sardinian municipalities.

The overall valuation of Ichnusa Gas (enterprise value) has been set at €26.2m. At the closing of the transaction, the sum will be paid entirely in cash, net of debt.

On the day of the acquisition, 2 of the 12 concessions are in temporary operation with the first customers served with LPG. The remaining 10 refer to networks under construction and to be built, for an overall investment of over €170m which will be partially financed with regional public subsidies.

These infrastructures will be progressively completed in the course of approximately three years reaching, when fully operational, an extension of about 1,300 kilometres of networks for a potential pool of over 150,000 users.

The transaction concluded today marks the beginning of a pivotal presence of Italgas in Sardinia. Through the acquisition of Ichnusa Gas, which will serve 12 out of 38 pools of users defined by regional subdivisions, Italgas will cover about a third of Sardinia. The completion of the operation is expected within the first few months of 2018 and is subject to certain conditions precedent.

Paolo Gallo, CEO of Italgas, said:

“The transaction closed today is part of a wider collaboration between Italgas and CPL Concordia, aimed at enhancing the value of both companies’ gas distribution assets and their major competences relative to the construction and maintenance of networks and plants. Our entry into Sardinia – the only Italian region that does not benefit from an interconnected gas distribution infrastructure – signal Italgas’ willingness not only to play a consolidating role in an extremely fragmented sector, but also to promote the further methanization of the country system in view of the future construction of the infrastructures that will bring natural gas to the island. The acquisition of Ichnusa’s assets, one year after our return to the Stock Exchange, is additional to the transactions carried out in recent weeks, and confirms the strategic objectives announced in the 2017-2023 Business Plan”.

Italgas acquires 12 concessions in Campania and Basilicata from Amalfitana Gas

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Milan, 2 November 2017 – Italgas and Amalfitana Gas have signed today a binding agreement to acquire a company branch regarding natural gas distribution activities in three ATEMs in Campania and Basilicata, two regions in Southern Italy. The agreement includes concessions, networks, plants and staff.

All the assets involved in the operation includes 12 concessions for a total of over 22,000 redelivery points and more than 300 kilometres of network.

The value of Amalfitana Gas branch assets (enterprise value) has been set at Euro 18.5 million. At the closing of the transaction, the sum will be paid entirely in cash.

The completion of the operation is expected by January 2018 and is subject to certain conditions precedent.

Paolo Gallo, CEO of Italgas, commented

The acquisition of these new assets, which includes as well the commitment to develop new networks in the ATEMs concerned, strengthens our robust presence in Southern Italy and in Campania in particular, and establishes the conditions to create value for shareholders and for the entire Italian gas distribution system. The operation concluded today with a historical operator such as Amalfitana Gas represents a further step in the sector’s consolidation process in which Italgas aims to playing a leading role and is part of the series of acquisitions announced to the market.

Italgas Board of Directors approves the renewal of the EMTN programme and the issuance of bonds

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Milan, 23 October 2017 – Italgas’ Board of Directors, chaired by Lorenzo Bini Smaghi, met today and approved the renewal of the EMTN Programme launched in 2016 and raised the Programme maximum amount up to 3,500 million euro.

The Board of Directors has also approved the issue, by 31 October 2018, of one or more bonds to be placed with institutional investors. The total amount of the bonds issued may not in any case exceed the abovementioned maximum amount. The newly bonds issued may be listed on one or more regulated markets.

As of today, 2,650 million euro of bonds have been issued under the EMTN Programme.

The EMTN Programme is an effective tool to secure funding on the bond market in order to support Italgas growth diversifying funding sources at competitive costs

Italgas: approved the consolidated results for the first nine months of 2017

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Milan, 23 October 2017 – Italgas’s Board of Directors met today under the chairmanship of Lorenzo Bini Smaghi, and approved the consolidated results for the first nine months and third quarter of 2017*.

Summary

Italgas confirms the growth objectives presented to the market, particularly with regards to the increase of 14.7% in EBIT and of 27.8% in net profit. The Group has continued with the implementation of the investment plan, which amounted to €346.5 million as at 30 September 2017 (+39.8% compared with the same period in 2016), and has confirmed the objective of a total of more than €500 million in investments by the end of 2017. Approximately half of these investments are for implementing the programme for the replacement of traditional meters with “smart” meters. In the first nine months of the year 1.1 million meters were added bringing the total of new meters installed to around 2.3 million –  equal to 35% of the total and in line with the goal of completing the plan between 2019 and 2020.

In the first nine months of 2017 the Group generated cash flow from operating activities of €375.1 million, which enabled the funding of the investment plan and the payment of a dividend for 2016 maintaining the net financial position as at 30 September 2017 at approximately €3.7 billion.

Paolo Gallo, CEO of Italgas, commented:

“The results confirm the positive growth trend registered since the beginning of the year thanks to the positive effect of the rationalisation process, the corporate restructuring, the control of operating costs and financial optimisation. All the main economic indicators demonstrate a double digit growth; in particular EBITDA rose by  20% and net profit by 28%. The implementation of our investment plan is progressing in line with the objectives presented to the market, and with a focus on the replacement of meters, network development and replacement initiatives, and the application of digital technological solutions which will continue to generate efficiencies and benefits for the entire Italian gas distribution system”.

Key figures Consolidated economic and financial highlights:

  • Total revenue: €835.0 million (+7.2%)
  • EBITDA: €577.9 million (+20.0%)
  • EBIT: €306.7 million (+14.7%)
  • Net profit: €213.3 million (+27.8%)
  • Technical investments: €346.5 million (+39.8%)
  • Net cash flow from operating activities: €375.1 million
  • Net financial debt: €3,728.3 million

Operating highlights including unconsolidated affiliates:  Gas concessions: 1,581

  • Number of active meters: 7.4 million
  • Gas distribution network: more than 65,000 Km

Conference call: third quarter 2017 report

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Paolo Gallo, CEO, and Antonio Paccioretti, General Manager, present 2017 Third Quarter Results.

Conference Call for the presentation of results to the community will be held on Monday, October 23rd, 2017 at 5:30 pm CEST.