FCC will submit to its July meeting the amortization of treasury shares and its OPA to repurchase its own shares

MADRID, 30 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) -

FCC will submit to its extraordinary shareholders' meeting in July, which is expected to be held on the 19th at first call, the approval of a reduction in its share capital for a nominal amount of 854,234 euros, according to the agenda of the meeting that the company has sent this Friday to the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV).

This capital reduction will be carried out through the redemption of 854,234 treasury shares that the company held as of June 27, 2023, with a face value of one euro each, and which represent approximately 0.19% of the share capital.

The term of execution of this capital reduction will be until the date of the next ordinary general meeting of shareholders, remaining without effect thereafter.

FCC will carry out this operation with a charge to unrestricted reserves by allocating a restricted reserve for amortized capital for an amount equal to the nominal value of the amortized shares.

The company will also submit for the approval of its extraordinary shareholders' meeting the repurchase from its shareholders of 7% of the share capital for more than 400 million euros announced last Wednesday.

The announcement of this operation led FCC shares to climb 28.28% yesterday on the stock market, up to 11.84 euros per share, the biggest rise in its history.

With it, the group managed to return the price of its titles in just one day to the maximum of 2019, that is, four years ago, staying less than one euro from the amount that it will pay to shareholders who decide to sell their shares to the company. within the framework of the Public Acquisition Offer (OPA) that it plans to direct to the holders of its shares if the board gives its approval.

As FCC has explained, this takeover bid will be made on a maximum of 32 million shares (7% of the capital) with a cash consideration of 12.50 euros per FCC share. This amount, as defended by the company, supposes the payment of a premium of 38% with respect to the weighted average price of the share in the last six months.

FCC considers that the consideration offered is "reasonable" from a financial point of view, a criterion that has been confirmed in a report issued by CaixaBank and addressed to the board of directors.

The operation seeks to provide a specific liquidity mechanism to all FCC shareholders through the company's acquisition of the FCC shares it owns "under the same conditions and following strict criteria of transparency, parity of treatment and not discrimination".

Carlos Slim, the company's main shareholder, has already communicated his intention not to attend the takeover bid, while the other significant shareholders have not commented on the matter.

In any case, the company has qualified that the purpose of the operation is not to exclude FCC shares from the Spanish Stock Market, although the 'free float' will be reduced to just 6.3%.

This free float is currently 13.2%, already low in itself and making it difficult for it to return to the Ibex 35 despite its high capitalization (5,200 million euros).

However, the company has assured that it will take any measure to favor the liquidity of the value.

According to an analysis by Sabadell, the market price will be adjusted proportionally to the 'free float' and the premium offered, which would be 11 euros per share if 13% of the shareholders attend and 10.3 euros if 23% attend. of the shareholders, that is, all but Slim.

The entity recalls that the offered price of 12.5 euros, although it represents a 35% premium over yesterday's closing price, "is clearly lower" than its target price of 16 euros per share.