Spanish renewable energy company Ignis has hired Citigroup to prepare a potential initial public offering, newspaper Expansion reported on Wednesday, citing unidentified market sources.
The process remains at an early stage, and several options are under review, including a conventional IPO with new shares, a sale of existing shares, or a combination of both, according to the report.
Ignis declined to comment on the report, while Citigroup did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Expansion also said a dual-track process is being considered, in which part of the capital could be floated on the stock market and the rest placed with one or more large funds.
Citi is sounding out possible listing venues, although Madrid is the initial option given the company’s headquarters are in Spain, the report added.
According to Expansion, Ignis’ valuation has not yet been set, but the starting point would be no lower than 1 billion to 1.2 billion euros ($1.2 billion-$1.4 billion) – the valuation at which investors led by Egypt’s EFG Hermes joined the company a few years ago.
Spain has seen no IPOs of green-energy companies since Ecoener’s listing in May 2021 and Acciona Energia’s in June 2021.
Some later deals instead involved delistings after takeovers, including Opdenergy in April 2024 following a bid by Antin and Solarpack’s 2021 buyout by EQT.
($1 = 0.8338 euros)
(Reporting by David Latona)
