Gas Natural Fenosa invests €85 million in its first power generation project in Brazil

Barcelona (CNA).- The energy company Gas Natural Fenosa will acquire a majority stake of 85% in two solar plants in Brazil from Gransolar Group. The production of these two facilities in the north of the country will be about 154 GWh per year. Through its subsidiary Global Power Generation (GPG), the Barcelona-based company has signed an agreement that will involve an investment of €85 million and result in their first power generation project in the Brazilian market. Coinciding with the investment announcement the company presented the results for the first nine months of the year. During this period, Gas Natural Fenosa posted a net profit of €930 million, down 15% compared with the same period last year.

The solar plants acquired are Sobral I and Sertao I, with a production of energy equivalent to 60MW and located in the north of the country, and it is expected that they start to operate in the second quarter of 2017. The purchase of these two solar parks was accompanied by an agreement on the sale of the energy generated over the next 20 years to the Brazilian public system, with a price of approximately €95 per MWh.

GPG is the company of Gas Natural Fenosa in charge of the purchase of energy generation assets around the world and has a 25% stake in the group Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA), the world's oldest sovereign fund, formed in 1953.

Gas Natural Fenosa earns €930 million in the first nine months of 2016 

Gas Natural Fenosa obtained up to the end of September a net profit of €930 million, down 15% in comparison to the same period last year. For the company the result has been conditioned by the “demanding” macroeconomic environment and the depreciation of the currencies of South American countries, which has meant an impact of €117 million. The currencies that saw the biggest decrease during the first half of 2016 were the Brazilian real and the Colombian peso.

The Catalan company’s EBITDA (Earnings before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortisation) which come from its international business represented 44.9% and the EBITDA coming from the Spanish market 55.1%. Gas Natural Fenosa’s total consolidated EBITDA stood at €3,640 million, 6.8% less than last year.

Despite this “demanding” environment the company expects to close the year with an EBITDA of around €5,000 million and with a net profit of between €1,300 and 1,400 million, thus fulfilling the current strategic plan for the period between 2016 and 2020.