Enersis Offer Moves Ahead

Chile’s Enersis has opened the preferential subscription period for its equity capital increase, it says, the first phase of a process targeting a total of CLP2.84trn ($6.02bn). It has also started meeting investors on a US, European and LatAm roadshow. The holding vehicle for certain LatAm electricity sector units of Spain’s Endesa is offering 16.44bn shares at CLP173 each. The process is to eventually include the sale of ADRs in the US. During the preferential period, existing shareholders may buy 0.5 new shares per share already held, through March 26. JPMorgan, Celfin, BBVA, Santander, Larrain Vial, Banchile and Bank of America Merrill Lynch are managing. The controversial sale was approved in December, after months of back and forth with regulators and minority investors. Endesa plans to subscribe its portion of the transaction with its LatAm assets that don’t already belong to Enersis, and needed negotiations with Chilean pension funds and multiple outside evaluations to reach agreement on the assets’ value. The process will raise funds for acquisition opportunities and streamline Endesa’s operations in LatAm by placing all of its holdings under Enersis. Enersis shares closed at CLP179.78 Monday.