Acciona $371m debt move to ease pressure on embattled wind player Nordex
Shareholders to be asked to back Spanish conglomerate's conversion of loans into shares of loss-making German turbine maker
Spanish conglomerate Acciona plans to boost its stake in embattled German wind turbine manufacturer Nordex by converting €346.73m ($371.27m) of outstanding debt into company shares, reducing interest payments pressure on the latter.
To approve the transaction, the Nordex management and supervisory boards have called for an extraordinary general meeting on 27 March 2023. The board has proposed increasing the OEM’s share capital by issuing up to 29.26 million new shares that can only be subscribed by Acciona, which currently already holds 40.97% of Nordex’s stock.
“In the opinion of the Management Board, the implementation of the proposed capital increase would significantly improve its financial performance and strengthen its capital structure,” Nordex said in a note to investors, adding that the move would lower interest costs by about €46m on an annual basis.
“The proposed capital increase also builds on the strategy to strengthen the balance sheet against the short-term risks to which the sector is exposed.”
Like all western wind turbine makers, Nordex currently is struggling to return to a profit, amid cost increases and supply chain bottlenecks in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Nordex shares rose by 0.77% to €14.36 per share in early electronic trading in Frankfurt Thursday.
The capital increase will be carried out by Acciona contributing the amount of €346.73m from an existing shareholder loans dating back to August 2020 and June 2022. The exact number of new shares to be issued will correspond to the nominal amount of the loan receivables divided by the volume-weighted average price of existing Nordex shares in electronic trading at the Frankfurt stock exchange in the February 17 to March 24, 2023, period.
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