Eni Sells 10 Percent of Stake in Saipem

Italian energy major Eni S.p.A. wrapped up the sale of a 10 percent stake in Saipem S.p.A. The company raked in EUR 393 million ($421.9 million), at EUR 1.97 per share. Eni said in a press release that the settlement of the transaction will take place on June 14.

Eni said in an earlier statement announcing the share sale that a total of 199,556,000 ordinary shares had been put up for sale to institutional investors. Before the sale, Eni held 31.19 percent of the ordinary shares of Saipem. According to the company approximately 18.69 percent are freely transferrable and are not syndicated shares under the shareholders’ agreement Eni has with CDP Equity S.p.A.

Following the placement carried out through an accelerated bookbuilding, Eni now holds 422,920,192 shares in Saipem, representing approximately 21.19 percent of the share capital of the latter. Approximately 12.5 percent of the share capital, or 249,504,583 shares, are covered by the shareholders’ agreement with CDP Equity.

The placement was executed by Citigroup, Goldman Sachs International, Intesa Sanpaolo, Natixis and UniCredit, acting as joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners.

In the transaction, Eni agreed with the bookrunners not to sell additional shares of Saipem on the market for 180 days, subject to waiver by the bookrunners and customary exceptions in line with market practice, Eni said.

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