Iren, iron cure for the relaunch of Egea

"Not a financial rescue operation but rather one of the most important industrial operations of the Iren Group". This is how Luca Dal Fabbro, president of the North-West multi-utility company, describes Iren's entry, at 50%, into the shareholding structure of the historic Alba services company, with the option of increasing to 100% in the next four years. And when asked if he met 'the people of Egea', employees and managers, he replies: 'They welcomed us very positively. President Dal Fabbro himself believed in the operation from the very beginning. "We managed to bring home a significant industrial operation despite very strong competition from one of the most important American funds and the largest multi-utility in Italy," he adds.

Egea's new board of directors, with managing director Gianluca Riu and president Massimo Lapucci, took office just over a month ago to relaunch the multiutility pocket strongly rooted in the Langhe, a company 'at home' for municipalities and companies in the area, overwhelmed by a heavy crisis last spring, a crisis characterised by a strong exposure to the banking system and conditioned by the repercussions following the war between Russia and Ukraine and the effects on gas supplies. 'We won the competition,' recalls President Dal Fabbro, 'against a very wealthy American fund and against A2A. The area in which Egea is located is a rich area, perhaps the richest in Piedmont, full of capable entrepreneurs. In this context we have a fast-growing industrial sector, starting with agribusiness, and a territory that is growing'. At the same time, the Iren Group finalised the acquisition of the stake in the share capital of Egea Holding Spa into which the operating branches of Egea Spa, Egea Commerciale and Egea Produzioni e Teleriscaldamento were transferred. An €85 million transaction thanks to which Iren Spa acquired 50% of the company alongside MidCo 2024 Srl, which brings together entities and banking institutions that have taken over ownership of the Group.

For Iren's chairman Dal Fabbro, the transaction with Egea will not only not burden the Group's accounts, but it will also benefit from positive financial effects thanks to Ebitda growing compared to estimates, at the end of 2024, to €55-60 million. "For Iren this is an opportunity to make industry and this will be seen with the numbers because Egea's Ebitda will make a positive contribution to Iren's accounts, once we can consolidate the company within Iren's perimeter," explains president Dal Fabbro. "Thanks to the transaction with Egea, Piedmont is back to industry, with a Group that acquires an activity to develop it in a region that needs to get back into industry and Iren can be an enabling factor for the territory," reiterates Dal Fabbro.

Egea operates in the electricity, gas and district heating sectors. It is a very diversified business: in fact, it can count on a RAB (Regulatory Asset Base9 for the integrated water service and gas distribution of more than EUR 100 million, a basin of about one million inhabitants in which it carries out waste collection activities, 10 million cubic metres of district heating volumes, and almost 200 thousand customers to whom it supplies both gas and electricity. Decarbonisation is the main lever of the industrial plan drawn up by Iren, a plan in which Egea weighs improving Ebitda and consolidating its market base. As part of Iren's entry into Egea's share capital, thanks to the resources coming from the capital increase, the company acquired from Lighthouse Terminals Limited - a company of the iCON Infrastructure fund - 100% of Lime Energia, which holds the 49% minority stakes in some of Egea's companies, thus reaching 100% of Ardea (public lighting), Reti Metano Territorio (gas distribution) and TlrNet (district heating). 'We want to expand the district heating service,' adds Dal Fabbro, 'because there is untapped potential. But we will grow all businesses'.

Under the agreement, Iren will have both a four-year call option, exercisable as of 31 March 2025, to acquire the stake held by MidCo 2024 Srl, and the option, as of 1 January 2025, to subscribe a reserved capital increase of EUR 42.5 million, which would bring Iren's stake in Egea to 60%, to pursue further development investments. 2025 then could already be the year for a change in the company structure and it is not excluded that the municipalities, Egea's historical shareholders, could remain in the company. 'We are open to all solutions that are shared,' Dal Fabbro concludes, 'and that have an industrial project as their meaning. If there are shareholders who want to accompany this industrial development project for Egea, we can talk about it'. At this time, one month away from Iren's actual entry into the company, therefore, no scenario is ruled out.