PARIS (Agefi-Dow Jones)–Eiffage announced on Wednesday the acquisition of an additional 13.71% stake in the capital of Getlink, which will make the construction group the largest shareholder in the operator of the Channel Tunnel.
This operation, intended to continue the diversification of Eiffage in concessions, will place the group at the head of a stake of 18.79% in total, taking into account the 5.08% of the former Eurotunnel already acquired in 2018.
The third French player in the construction industry has indicated that it has reached an agreement to buy back a block of 75.4 million shares from the speculative fund TCI Fund Management for a unit price of 15.84 euros. This investment, for a total amount of 1.19 billion euros, was financed from the group’s available cash.
Getlink shares closed Wednesday up 2.9% to 15.88 euros.
“Eiffage intends to be a long-term investor in Getlink and reserves the possibility of continuing its purchases depending on market conditions,” the group said in a press release, while affirming that it did not envisage not to launch a public takeover bid for the entire capital.
Getlink is the concession company for the Channel Tunnel until 2086. For its part, Eiffage is already present on the rail market. The group had taken part in the civil engineering works of the Channel Tunnel and is participating in the construction of the Euralpin Lyon-Turin Tunnel. Eiffage is also the concessionaire for the Bretagne-Pays de la Loire high-speed line.
Eiffage specified that it supported Getlink’s current strategy and that it would seek the appointment of several administrators, to reflect its weight in the capital.
-Thomas Varela, Agefi-Dow Jones; +33 (0)1 41 27 47 99; [email protected]
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October 26, 2022 13:35 ET (17:35 GMT)