Shares in Spanish aeronautics and energy company Gamesa fell last week after shareholder Nefinsa placed its entire stake in the business at the low end of a forecast price range.
Priced at €13 ($15.60) per share for qualified investors, the stock was at the bottom end of the €13-13.60 range expected by dealers. Gamesa’s share price slipped by about 8% when trading resumed on 27 September, after the stock was suspended.
When Gamesa was floated on the Spanish stock exchange in 2000, Nefinsa became the second largest Gamesa shareholder with 21.3% of the group’s share capital.
In 2004, Gamesa achieved record profitability with a consolidated net income of €221 million, 10% higher than 2003. Turnover reached €1.73 billion, an increase of 10% compared with the previous year.
But the company launched a restructuring programme for its aerospace division after net profits in the sector slid to €8 million from €21 million a year earlier, despite revenues rising a quarter to reach €310 million. Gamesa says profits in its aeronautical sector fell because of a reduction in deliveries and the weak US dollar.
Gamesa last month set a non-binding bid deadline of 15 September in its bid to divest its aerospace business.
Spanish media reports say Gamesa has been in talks with EADS’s Spanish arm and French group Dassault – suggestions which Dassault subsequently denied – adding there have also been expressions of interest from Boeing and Italian state holding company and Alenia parent company Finmeccanica.
Finmeccanica was reported in the middle of last year to be eyeing a 30% minority stake in Gamesa’s aerostructures division.
Source: Flight International
