Naturgy Secures 86% Acceptance for €2.3 Billion Self-Tender Offer

Naturgy Energy Group has completed its partial self-tender offer, securing acceptances for 86.37% of the shares targeted at €26.50 apiece. The company bought the full 88 million shares it had sought—equivalent to 9.08% of its capital—for a total consideration of about €2.33 billion. Following the transaction, Naturgy holds 96.9 million shares in treasury, or 10% of its equity. The free float slips only marginally to 9.6%, while the combined stake of its main shareholders—Fundación La Caixa, CVC, BlackRock and IFM—falls to 76.2% from 85%. Management said the larger treasury position should help the Spanish utility regain eligibility for major equity benchmarks such as the MSCI series, whose minimum free-float threshold is 15%. Earlier in the day, Spain’s Supreme Court rejected a separate Naturgy petition that sought to prevent regulated electricity distributors from pooling their power-purchase orders, a practice the company argued distorted competition. The ruling leaves existing syndication arrangements in place.