The end of oil is not for tomorrow, but Total is preparing the future for all purposes. Both feet still firmly rooted in hydrocarbons, the French oil giant puts a finger more in renewable energy by buying the manufacturer Saft batteries for 950 million euros. Total announced on Monday, signing “reconciliation agreement” with the Saft Group to buy 100% of shares of the company through a tender offer (OPA) friendly. Saft to convince shareholders (mainly Anglo-Saxon funds), the group chaired by Patrick Pouyanné granted a “substantial control premium” 38.3% on the value of Saft shares on the closing Friday. So that Total will spend almost a billion euros to a company that was worth 673 million traded before the announcement of its purchase.
As a result, the direction of Saft Groupe immediately gave approves the principle of the acquisition of the company by Total, found “in the interest of the company, its shareholders and its employees” . The chief executive of the company, Ghislain Lescuyer expressed “convinced that Total will bring to Saft’s expertise and resources required for its future development, especially in the technology and business plans” . For its part, the big boss , Total, Patrick Pouyanné, said in a statement that Saft will “become the spearhead of the group in the energy storage industry” “the acquisition of [business] is fully in Total’s ambition to grow in the business of renewable energy and electricity.”
Under the sun
Obviously, with more than 150 billion euros in turnover in the oil and gas, Total will not become overnight a nice green giant. But if the big oil company sign a check for nearly one billion euros to shareholders of Saft, not only to green its heavy toll CO 2 . “We see real business opportunities ahead in renewable energy and significantly in green electricity” , Total said a spokesman. The group is particularly interested in closely at the potential of solar energy, since he bought the Californian manufacturer SunPower panels in 2011 to one billion euros. Total bet especially on decentralized energy off grid (non-network) that allows the buildings, even entire towns to become independent in energy from solar and wind, coupled with solutions by storage batteries. For the production of intermittent electricity does not go without. “We want to be present on all decentralized electricity line” , Total confirms, hence the interest group for Saft.
Once Alcatel property Saft, which is an almost century-old brand (founded in 1918), was bought by the British investment fund Doughty Hanson in 2003. Then it sold the company on the stock exchange. Since then the company had the main Anglo-Saxon shareholder funds like BlackRock and UBS, the Deposit or the Norwegian central bank Norges. With Saft, which develops in particular a range of rechargeable lithium-ion and nickel, used in the aeronautics, space, defense and medical, Total gets a hold of a manufacturer that is as ” the world leader in high technology batteries “. A company that displayed in any case € 760 million in revenue in 2015 and employs over 4100 employees worldwide, including 1,500 in France, with operations in 19 countries, including a new plant in China . Saft, which invests 9% of its turnover in R & amp; D, also has a nice patent portfolio
In the wake of Tesla
betting. total on electricity storage may surprise from the 4 th World oil. But this is a promising business: according to International Energy Agency (IEA), to achieve the goal of keeping global warming below the 2 ° C + bar, “there would add 310 gigawatts of new storage capacity to the power grid in the United States, Europe, China and India, “. An investment of $ 590 billion (over 517 billion). However, at present, there are only 140 gigawatts of installed capacity worldwide, mainly of hydroelectric dams that store electricity in the form of dams, which can pump and release at will to drive turbines. But the future is decentralized storage solutions for large batteries that will conserve and reuse without injecting it into the network, including the energy provided by the solar panels and wind turbines. The American Tesla has understood: not content to build his famous electric cars, the firm Elon Musk now offers a battery to store electricity at home
<. span> this is still nascent market that interests Total, alongside EDF or Engie. Although, at present, renewables account, with 3 billion, 1% of total turnover, the acquisition of Saft, which comes after that of SunPower (world number 2 solar panels ) represents an important strategic move. While still having an appetite for oil and shale gas pollutants, denounced by environmental associations, the group of Patrick Pouyanné does not exclude investing in wind power. It indeed wants to bet € 500 million per year in low-carbon energy. The Total Energy Ventures fund has taken tickets in several energy startups (Sunverge, Stem, Aquion Energy, etc.). A drop of green water in the petroleum activities of Total. “But if we go, it is believed to be” , will be repeated in the direction of the group.
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