The largest investment fund in the world, blackrockannounced this Friday the purchase of Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) for 12.5 billion dollars (about 11.4 billion euros). The one that will be major operation in a decade of the the planet’s largest asset manager will convert to Blackrock the third largest shareholder of Naturgy and, with this, the great ‘owner’ of the Spanish energy companies, with a presence in almost all branches of activity of the sector.
The American manager is now the first shareholder of Repsol, with 5.475% of the capital and the second of Iberdrolawith 5.395%, after the Qatar sovereign wealth fund (QIA), which has 8.694%. In addition, it is also a major shareholder in the two energy infrastructure operators, both gas and electricity. In the case of Enagas has 5.422% (3.960% in shares and 1.462% in financial instruments), ahead of SEPI and Amancio Ortega, with 5% each, and in Redeiawith 4.995%, in this case behind SEPI, with 20%, and the founder of Inditex, who holds 5%.
If the operation announced on Friday comes to fruition, to this presence in the oil (Repsol), electricity (Iberdrola) and infrastructure (Enagás and Redeia) sectors it will add its entry into Naturgy, the first gas company in Spain, where GIP has the 20.6% of the capital, behind Criteria (26.7%), holding company of La Caixa, and CVC (20.4%), and ahead of the Australian IFM fund (14%).
Currently, GIP has a director at Naturgy, a position he holds Lucy Chadwick. So Blackrock would also have the right to have presence on the gas company’s board. However, unlike GIP, which is committed to a strategy of profitability in the short term divesting his positions, the fund he runs Larry Fink It is characterized by having a passive presence without intervening directly in the decision making of the companies in which it has a presence.
Without knowing Blackrock’s plans, the shortage of shares in circulation on the stock market (‘free float’) of Naturgy makes it difficult for any of the large funds divest in the company without impacting the price. In February 2022, Naturgy’s board of directors announced the split into two companies – one with liberalized assets and the other with regulated assets -, which was interpreted as a form of facilitate the sale of relevant sharesbut the war ruined the so-called ‘Gemini project’.
With a presence in 35 countries, Blackrock arrived in Spain in 1994 and is already the largest international manager in the country, with a total of 42,000 million euros in assets managed in June 2022, according to Inverco data collected by the fund on its website. Beyond its role in the energy sector, it is also of great importance in Spanish banking, where he is the first shareholder of the Santander Bankwith 5.426% of the capital, and BBVA, with 5.917% of the capital. And it has 3.965% of the capital of the Sabadell Bank.
The infrastructure era
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He GIP infrastructure fund manages 100,000 million dollars, with assets as notable as the airports of Gatwick in London, Sydney and also the port of Melbourne, in Australia. Under its management are also strategic assets such as Suez canal and shale pipelines (oil from that rock). Blackrock justifies the operation as “one of the most interesting long-term investment opportunities” amid “a series of structural changes that are reconfiguring the global economy.”
“We believe that the expansion of physical and digital infrastructure will continue to accelerate as governments prioritize self-sufficiency and security through increasing domestic industrial capacity, energy independence, and offshoring or near-offshoring of critical sectors. Policymakers have just begun to implement unique financial incentives for new technologies and infrastructure projects,” said Blackrock President and CEO, Larry Fink in the statement after the announcement.