May 15 (SeeNews) - Romanian state-owned power company Hidroelectrica will propose to its shareholders to approve a 26.04 billion lei (5.8 billion/$5.3 billion euro) investment programme spanning until 2037.
Out of the total amount, 7 billion lei would be needed for investments scheduled to be made between 2020 and 2025, Hidroelectrica said in the proposed investment plan published on the company's website on Thursday.
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Hidroelectrica's ambitious and complex investment plan not only aims to ensure a new life cycle for the existing power plants in its portfolio, it will also allow the company to become the champion of the de-carbonization process in the Romanian economy, the company said.
The company will ask shareholders to approve the investment plan on June 15.
Out of the 26 billion lei planned for investment until 2037, 10.8 billion lei are expected to come from a planned initial public offering (IPO), 7.7 billion lei would be drawn from EU funds, while the rest would be provided from bond or credit facilities, the document reads.
"The implementation of this investment strategy will make Hidroelectrica a true regional champion in the area of electricity production," the company said.
The planned investments would increase Hidroelectrica's installed capacity by 1,763 GWh per year and boost annual energy output by 32%, according to the plan. Hidroelectrica currently has in its portfolio 204 hydro power plants with a total installed capacity of 6,444 MW.
Hidroelectrica plans to invest some 9 billion lei in the upgrade or completion of existing production facilities, while over 17 billion lei would be allocated for new power generation facilities using wind, solar and biomass energy sources.
The plan contains 16 hydro power projects with a total installed capacity of 713.6 MW, 58 projects for technological upgrade of the company's existing hydro power facilities, as well as 7 brand-new projects through which the company aims to diversify its business.
Earlier this month, Hidroelectrica said that it has selected Dentons Europe SPARL as its legal advisor for its planned IPO.
The energy company exited insolvency in April 2017, which paved the way for its listing on the Bucharest Stock Exchange which is expected to be the biggest in Romania’s history. The initial public offering of a 10% or 15% stake in Hidroelectrica is expected to raise up to 1 billion euro, the court-appointed administrator of the company said at the time.
Hidroelectrica is 80.06% owned by the Romanian state, while investment fund Fondul Proprietatea owns 19.94%.
($=0.9265 euro)
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