Shareholders strengthen Enexis Holding's capital structure due to the energy transition

Today 5 provincial and 23 municipal shareholders arranged the first part of a so-called convertible hybrid loan to Enexis Holding. The second part is expected to follow in late November 2020 once the shareholders have completed their own decision-making processes. The loan, amounting to €500 million, represents a major financial support from the shareholders to Enexis Holding to help implementing its share of the energy transition.

The loan provides flexibility

The shareholders and Enexis Holding have recently explored the possibilities of reinforcing Enexis Holding’s equity. This resulted in a request to all shareholders to provide a convertible hybrid loan.

This will allow shareholders and Enexis Holding to reinforce the holding’s equity, should that become necessary.

This week the first part of this loan was closed for a total amount of more than €421 million with an interest rate of 2.15%. The requested €500 million is expected to be completed in late November 2020.

The energy transition requires additional investments

The energy transition is having a high impact on grid operators, and evenly so on Enexis Holding. For example, the construction of wind and solar farms, but also customers who want to generate energy themselves. Or even the increase in heat pumps and charging stations for electric cars. This all requires more money being invested to make the grid suitable for these changing energy flows. In addition, Enexis Netbeheer will of course continue to invest in regular maintenance and expansions required for a safe and reliable network.

Different solutions to support the funding of the energy transition

All these changes require a permanently higher activity and investment level. Enexis Group has different solutions available to accomplish this. First of all, Enexis Group is continuously improving its efficiency in limiting expenditure. The network manager is also working on innovations to make network expansions as cost effective as possible and ensure that the current electricity grid is used optimally. The grid operators are also consulting with the government on a regulation which would suit the energy transition better. Finally, Enexis Holding is in discussions with various stakeholders on alternative funding possibilities for the energy transition.

The collaboration between the shareholders and Enexis Holding and the raising of this shareholders’ loan, is part of the latter solution and an important step towards enabling the energy transition.