Delisting renewables company PNE would have a price, says top investor

Energiekontor AG

01/12/2020 16:10

By Christoph Steitz
    FRANKFURT, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Activist fund ENKRAFT has urged
the leadership of renewables firm PNE AG  PNEGn.DE  to ensure
investors are adequately compensated in the event of a delisting
by top shareholder Morgan Stanley  MS.N .
    Morgan Stanley last year tried to buy PNE, a developer of
wind farms and solar parks, but failed to gain the majority
after investors such as ENKRAFT and Active Ownership Capital
declined to accept the 4 euros-per-share offer.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N27R4N6
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N29C27R  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N27K1PC
    Morgan Stanley, which holds 39.8% of PNE, at the time struck
an agreement to delist the firm once it crosses the 50%
ownership threshold, which would require paying outstanding
investors the average price over the previous six months.
    "Our point of view is that the management board should
cancel or at least negotiate material changes to the investor
agreement," ENKRAFT managing director Benedikt Kormaier wrote in
a letter to PNE's supervisory board seen by Reuters.
    ENKRAFT owns nearly 5% of PNE, whose share price has nearly
doubled year-to-date to 7.80 euros, giving a market valuation of
588 million euros ($703 million) and reflecting the rise in
demand for renewable assets since the beginning of the year.
    ENKRAFT, also a top-10 shareholder in Energiekontor
 EKTG.DE , said PNE's six-month average, which stands at less
than 6 euros per share, did not adequately reflect PNE's value.
It has calculated a fair value of around 9.30 euros per share.
    "Current market valuations show, however, how conservative
this is," Kormaier said.
    He said PNE's value could be as high as 14-15 euros per
share if benchmarked against peer Encavis  HWAG.DE  and RWE's
 RWEG.DE  purchase of most of Nordex's  NDGX.DE  wind power
project pipeline.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2F516Y
    PNE declined to comment. Morgan Stanley was not immediately
available for comment.
($1 = 0.8361 euros)

 (Editing by Barbara Lewis)
 ((christoph.steitz@thomsonreuters.com; +49 30 220 133 647))