Boralex plans to take over Enel’s French unit for EUR 276m

Dec 16, 2014 - Canadian renewables developer Boralex Inc (TSE:BLX) has launched a binding offer to buy the French arm of sector player Enel Green Power (BIT:EGPW) for CAD 400 million (USD 344m/EUR 276m) in cash.

In a statement on Monday, Boralex said that if the deal with the Italian group is completed, it will own 455 MW of installed wind power capacity in France and thus be the largest independent wind power producer in the country. Via the transaction, the Canadian firm will take control of 12 wind farms of 186 MW in total, which are selling their output to Electricite de France (EPA:EDF). The target -- Enel Green Power France SAS (EGPF) -- also owns a pipeline of 310 MW wind and solar projects, some of which in advanced development stages.

With the acquisition, Boralex will be able to boost its overall net installed capacity by 25% to 940 MW, it calculates.

The Canadian firm intends to buy EGPF and its headcount of 48 people with available cash on hand, debt and a CAD-110-million public offering of subscription receipts. The placement is to be completed on or about January 12, 2015.

The acquisition is expected to be immediately high-single digit accretive to Boralex’s diluted free cash flow per share and fetch annual earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of EUR 30 million (USD 37.3m), prior to potential synergies and costs.

The deal is awaiting clearance by the corporate bodies of the relevant Enel Green Power Group companies.

(CAD 1.0 = USD 0.859/EUR 0.690)

(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.245)

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