(Finance) – Yet another day to forget for Saipem, which closed the session in Piazza Affari, two days after the start of the 2 billion euro capital increase, with a decrease of 21.81%. Today’s decline came after clarifications requested by Consob for the go-ahead for the prospectus, and followed those on Thursday and Wednesday, which arrived after the board of directors approved the share capital increase and approved the final terms and conditions.
Today the stock closed at € 23.7 per share, down by 43.6% in the last three days and by 73% from the beginning of the year. Investors were frightened by the highly dilutive operation and the fact that the services and solutions company for the energy and infrastructure sector chose to carry out a rise without rollingwith the newly issued shares unavailable to shareholders until the end of the exercise period, when it will be known whether the increase has been fully subscribed.
The registration document also states that “they exist significant uncertainties regarding the success of the financial maneuverof which the capital increase is an integral part, as well as about the full implementation of the 2022-2025 Strategic Plan, also taking into account the uncertainties related to the evolution of the Covid-19 pandemic and the conflict between Russia and Ukraine “.
In another passage it is emphasized that “in case of unsuccessful outcome of the financial maneuver, the financial resources available to the group are expected to run out by the first quarter of 2023“. In this regard, Saipem draws attention to the fact that,” if, following the investment in Saipem shares, the assumption of the going concern of the issuer and the group is no longer valid, the value of the shares could be zeroed, thus incurring the shareholder in a total loss of the capital invested “.
In the appeal to attention, Consob then underlines that the transaction “has characteristics of strong dilution; moreover, the inseparable nature of the capital increase, combined with the other peculiarities of the transaction, determines the inapplicability of the rolling model “.” These circumstances determine the risk that during the offer period of the new shares, a strong volatility of the share price issuer, including one probable overestimation of the market price compared to its theoretical value “, is added.