S&P shifts Salini Impregilo view to positive

S&P said it changed the outlook on Salini Impregilo SpA to positive from negative after the company completed a €600 million capital increase to acquire a stake in Astaldi.

“Of the €600 million, €225 million will fund Salini Impregilo’s acquisition of a 65% stake in Astaldi SpA, the second largest engineering and construction group in Italy. The company also announced the acquisition of Cossi Costruzioni and an offer for some assets of Condotte. Although we anticipate further acquisitions as part of Progetto Italia, we do not expect any to be as large as Astaldi, given limited players of that size in the Italian market,” said S&P in a press release.

The remainder of the capital increase is expected to go toward strengthening the balance sheet by reducing financial debt. “We also understand that financial debt inherited from Astaldi will be limited. We now forecast our FFO-to-debt ratio will exceed 20% in 2019-2020, versus our previous expectation of 15% before the capital increase,” said S&P.

S&P affirmed the BB- ratings on the company and its two bonds.

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