Iberdrola does not give up its efforts to buy the American PNM Resources through its subsidiary Avangrid. The Spanish electricity company has communicated this Tuesday to the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) the extension until mid-April 2023 of the expiration date of the merger contract signed by both companies, with the confidence of receiving the approval of the authorities in that period. If this is not achieved, it could be even three more months, until the summer. The transaction, key in Iberdrola’s growth strategy as the world’s leading power, has been stopped short by the New Mexico regulator, which believes that it is not the best option for consumers and that in its argument has alluded to the imputation of several executives of the energy company – among them its president, Ignacio Sánchez Galán – for the Villarejo case.
To try to reverse this refusal, both Avangrid (Iberdrola) and PNM Resources have filed an appeal on Monday against the ruling published by the New Mexico regulator a month ago, as reported by the utility to the CNMV.
In December, no of the commissioners to the transaction – valued in 8.300 million dollars (7.350 million euros) – was unanimous. “It is not the right partner at this critical time in our energy transition,” said the regulator’s president, Stephen Fischmann, in December, shortly before the refusal was known. Other members of the regulatory commission also made clear their reluctance about the impact that the purchase would have on public service. The rejection contrasts, however, with the general trend towards the consolidation of public services in the United States, with several operations in this regard in recent times.
Iberdrola announced the acquisition of PNM Resources in October 2020, in the midst of a pandemic. The integration aspired to give rise to one of the largest American energy companies, with a presence in six states, and the third renewable operator in the North American country. The combined company was to have assets of more than 40,000 million dollars (35,300 million euros at the current exchange rate), more than 168,000 kilometers of distribution networks and about 10.9 gigawatts of installed capacity. On a purely financial level, it anticipated a gross operating profit (Ebitda) of 2,500 million dollars and a net profit of 850. The definitive closure of the operation was expected for this year. Now Iberdrola is confident of achieving this, at the latest, in the summer of 2023.
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