CNMV suspends Naturgy from trading for “withholding information” about a possible takeover bid by an Emirati investor.

National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) put its foot on the wall and suspended Naturgy’s trading with immediate effect in the early hours of Wednesday, awaiting the leading Spanish gas company and several of its major shareholders to provide an explanation for a possible takeover of Emirates electricity company TAQA. (formerly Abu Dhabi National Energy Company).

It’s been a few days since the takeover drums began to sound for the energy company he heads. Francisco Reines

and some of the utility’s major shareholders are misguided, according to the watchdog. “information storage”.

At the moment only Caixa criteria, the first investor of the group with 27% of the capital, published a statement to the CNMV, a document that Naturgy itself also published. However, neither the gas company nor the other shareholders gave an explanation to the market.

It was yesterday when holding company who presides Isidro Fein confirmed it was in discussions “with a potential investment group which has said it is in contact with some of Naturgy’s major shareholders.” A country He announced, and EL MUNDO was later able to confirm, that it was Abu Dhabi TAQA, the electrical giant controlled by the emirate of Abu Dhabi.

In addition to CriteriaCaixa, two other major shareholders of the gas company are involved in these conversations: the CVC and GIP funds, which together own 40% of Naturgy’s capital. It was to both of them that the CNMV addressed this Wednesday, without naming them, with a statement. And it is CVC and GIP that are the two shareholders who have been seeking for several months to get rid of their holding, 20% each, as soon as their investment cycle in the energy company expires. Today everything points to TAQA.

“At the moment, only one of the shareholders has provided relevant information, which, although the most important, is neither a buyer nor a seller. There are also main characters“, assure reliable sources. In short, the supervisory authority hopes that both the potential buyer and potential sellers, and Naturgy itself, will provide clarification to the market.

This Wednesday, the energy company started the trading day with a gain of 0.28 euros per share, an increase of 1.3%, leaving its shares at 21.8 euros. Yesterday, when Naturgy shares peaked at 8%, they closed the day up 3.36% to €21.52.

TAQA is one of the satellite companies of the Abu Dhabi government and has become one of the main foreign investors in Spain. Under its auspices there are also such companies as Mubadala

an oil giant that owns more than 60% of Cepsa shares, or MasdarThe investment arm, which specializes in renewable energy, signed an alliance with Iberdrola a few months ago to invest 15 billion euros in clean energy.