Surprise at Naturgy. Ignacio Gutiérrez-Orrantia withdrew from the process to be a representative of the gas company after more than a week of rumors about his possible appointment as number two for Francisco Reynés. The head of Citigroup’s investment banking for Europe, the Middle East and Africa has finally chosen to remain in his position and it is the second time that he has rejected the signing by the energy company (in 2020 he declined to be a corporate director). .
Gutiérrez-Orrantia has internally transferred his colleagues who will continue in his position at the US bank, according to Bloomberg and has been able to confirm the information in financial sources. It was the newspaper Cinco Días that reported his arrival at the energy company last week and even assured that he will have the hard core of power in his hand. The banker is a well-known man in the house because he advised on the company’s latest strategic plan and prepared the report for the board of directors on the IFM takeover bid last year. In his current position, he is responsible for more than 2,000 people based in 50 different countries.
Naturgy’s board of directors meets this Tuesday to discuss what will be the power structure that Reynés will maintain after pressure from the CVC Capital Partners and Global Infrastructure Management (GIP) funds, which together hold 40% of the capital, to that the Majorcan executive delegate some of his executive functions. It would have been Reynés himself who would have proposed Gutierrez-Orrantia to calm the waters. The sources consulted indicate that IFM remains on the sidelines after the struggle it had with Criteria Caixa to enter the board after the takeover bid.
days of noise
After days of noise, in a three-line statement, Criteria Caixa, the company’s largest shareholder with 26.7%, came out in defense of Reynés. “Criteria, Naturgy’s largest shareholder, confirms its confidence in the company’s management team headed by its president Francisco Reynés and will support his proposals aimed at being able to face the important challenges of the company in the coming years,” reads the letter. Part of the market understands the statement as a clear endorsement by Isidro Fainé of Reynés, while other sources aware of the latest movements in the company are suspicious of Criteria’s intentions and assure that Reynés is no longer called to be a main player within the company.
The same sources affirm that it does not make any sense that Reynés continues to retain all executive powers after all the ink that has flowed. They argue that the most normal thing would be to leave it a more institutional role and that whoever arrives as CEO focus on revaluing the assets and relaunching the ‘Geminis’ project. The profile sought by the funds is financial for a possible exit of capital. A sale has been ringing for some time and CVC and GIP saw the opportunity to get out in the segregation. Without it, they are aware that it is difficult for them to sell such large packages of shares.
Reynés, who will also be judged by the semi-annual results that the company intends to present before the end of July, was re-elected to the position just a few months ago for another four years, but the renegotiation of the supply contract with Algeria and the impossibility of removing the drawer the split in two. It must be remembered that Criteria avoided supporting the salary of the manager and the rest of the board of directors by abstaining from the meeting.
In order for Jaime Siles to join the board by IFM without increasing the number of directors, the independent Francisco Beli and Ramón Adell resigned, becoming the new proprietary director by co-optation of Criteria Caixa. Thus, Criteria strengthened its position, going from two to three directors, while CVC and GIP maintained two seats. The Algerian state Sonatrach is the fifth shareholder with 4.1%.
