RWE Hires Rothschild to Advise on Renewables, Grids IPO
Peter Terium (Photo: RWE)
RWE has hired investment bank Rothschild to advise it on the planned listing of its renewables, grids and retail unit, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters, in a sign that Germany's No.2 utility is moving ahead with its restructuring.
Rothschild and RWE declined to comment.
RWE late last year announced it would put its renewables, networks and retail activities into a single unit and list about 10 percent of it in an initial public offering (IPO) during the fourth quarter of 2016.
The sources said the listing may take place in early 2017, and that RWE is currently busy with the groundwork, including setting up legal structures and financial reporting of the new company.
RWE boss Peter Terium said last month the IPO would take place in the fourth quarter "at the earliest".
Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank are acting as global coordinators for the listing, sources have said previously.
Among others, Rothschild is expected to help picking book runners for the IPO as well as negotiating the fees the investment banks will be able to charge for their services.
RWE hopes listing the healthy assets separately will unlock billions of euros in additional market value, which has been depressed by a large exposure to loss-making coal-fired plants as well as outgoing nuclear stations.
Analysts expect the sale of 10 percent of the new unit, to be named in the course of the summer, to bring in about 2 billion euros ($2.3 billion), which would give the entity a market value of 20 billion, nearly three times that of RWE now.
($1 = 0.8826 euros)
(By Christoph Steitz and Arno Schuetze; Editing by Maria Sheahan and David Evans)
