MADRID (EFE Dow Jones)--Spanish construction company Actividades
de Construccion y Servicios SA (ACS.MC), engaged in a process to
sell all of its renewable energy projects, confirmed Wednesday the
sale of solar assets is more advanced than that of wind projects,
and some sales may be closed in the first half of the year.
Two people close to the situation had previously said ACS
expects to sell solar thermal assets in early June, and that
Deutsche Bank AG (DB) and BNP Paribas SA (BNP.FR) investment funds,
among others, have already submitted bids.
ACS, the largest Spanish construction company by market
capitalisation, wants to sell Spanish solar thermal plants with 349
megawatts of capacity. It also wants to get rid of Spanish wind
parks with a capacity of 1,056MW and wind parks outside of Spain
with 352MW in capacity, but these sales are lagging behind,
according to people close to the situation.
All the renewable assets are valued at up to EUR4.6 billion,
including debt, according to the consensus of six analysts who
cover the company.
"I believe there will be some sales in the first half, but the
bulk will be sold in the second part of the year," said Wednesday
Angel Garcia Altozano, ACS's corporate director, in a webcast with
analysts after the company released first quarter earnings.
Faced with difficulties in finding a single buyer, ACS has
divided up the renewable assets into six packages: five for wind
farms and one for solar thermal plants. Altozano said the solar
thermal assets could also be divided into several packages.
-By Pablo Dominguez and Juan Montes, EFE Dow Jones; +34 91 451
82 69, pablo.dominguez@dowjones.com