BUSINESSHIGHLIGHTS
SPAIN
Control of FCC goes to
Mexican billionaire
Ca
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Sl
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M
exican billionaire Carlos Slim has taken control of Spanish
construction and infrastructure group FCC, having agreed a
deal with B 1998, the company through which Esther Koplowitz
previouslyheld50.02%of the company.Thedealwasmade throughControl
Empresarial deCapitales SAdeCV, whichbelongs toMr Slim’s family.
The acquisition byMr Slim came about through a € 1 billion (US$ 1.26
billion) equity issue by FCC. The 133 million shares were bought by Mr
Slim’s company at a price of € 7.5 (US$ 9.45) each. In addition, Mr Slim
bought share subscription rights from B 1998 to take his holding in FCC
above 50%.
The capital increase was said by FCC to represent the culmination of its
financial andoperational stabilisationprocess. Some€765million (US$964
million) of the proceedswill be used topay-downhigh interest debt.
FCCwas placed no. 45 in this year’s
iC
-200 ranking of the world’s largest
construction companies. It is the 15
th
largest contractor inEurope according
to sistermagazine
ConstructionEurope's
CE-100 league table
.
PORTUGAL
Dutch listing
Portuguese
contractor
Mota-
Engil has listed shares in its
subsidiary Mota-Engil Africa on
the Amsterdam Euronext exchange.
Earlier in the year the company had
started the process of listing on the
London Stock Exchange by way
of an initial public offering (IPO)
of shares, but this was abandoned,
“due to the deterioration inmarket
conditions.”
Mota-Engil Africa had revenues
of € 557million (US$ 696million)
in the first half of 2014, a +29%
increaseon the sameperiod last year.
Its net profits for the periodwere up
+11% at € 62.4 million (US$ 78.1
million).
GERMANY
Fourthwarning
Bilfinger has issued a fourth profit
warning this year, and now expects
to make a net loss for 2014. The
latest downgrade is attributed to
“a difficult market” in its power
business.
Bilfinger’s poor performance came
as it appointed new supervisory
boardchairmanDrEckhardCordes.
The former Cevian Capital partner
has succeeded Dr BernhardWalter,
who stepped down from the board
lastweek.
UK
Portfolio bid
Balfour Beatty has rejected a bid for
its public-private partnership (PPP)
concession portfolio from John
Laing Infrastructure Fund (JLIF)
saying theUK£ 1 billion (US$ 1.54
billion) fell short of its own view of
the assets' value.
The UK contractor’s valuation
of its PPP portfolio was UK£ 1.05
billion (US$ 1.62 billion), as at 28
June, 2014. However, it said the
group’s approach to selling assets as
each investmentmatured, combined
with the current and expected future
strength of the market, meant the
realisable value of its PPP portfolio
wasmore than thecurrent valuation,
which in any case was greater than
JLIF's bid.
VALUEOF 1:
SYMBOL AU$
BRL
UK£ CNY
€
INR
YEN MXN RUR SAR
ZAR KRW CHF
US$
AustralianDollar
AU$
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B
USINESSNEW
S
10
NIGERIA
Massive contract for ChinaRailways
China
Railway
Construction
Corporation (CRCC) has won
the US$ 12 billion contract for
constructionof theNigerianCoastal
Railway Project.The 650 km route
will runbetweenCalabar in theEast
of the country toLagos in theWest,
via Port Harcourt,Warri and Benin
City.
CRCCsaystheproject isequivalent
to 1,402 km of single track railway
and that the design speed for trains
will be 120km/h.The final contract
was signed following the agreement
of a framework contract with the
Federal Ministry of Transport for
Nigeria, signed inMay this year.
The deal comes just weeks
after CRCC saw a contract for a
landmark high-speed rail project in
Mexico cancelled by the client (see
thismonth'sNews).
