Alpiq has transferred the last tranche of its Swissgrid shareholder loan with a nominal value of CHF 48.4 million to an institutional investor, whilst Alpiq retains the embedded conversion rights. Completion still requires approval by the Board of Directors of Swissgrid; a decision is expected in July 2015.
At the end of May 2014, the Board of Directors of Alpiq Holding AG decided to sell the entire package of its non-strategic investment in Swissgrid. This includes shares of Swissgrid and a shareholder loan received against the transfer of the high-voltage grids in early 2013. At the end of 2014, Alpiq divested the first tranches of this loan for a total of CHF 75 million. In addition, the Swissgrid shares were transferred to the independent subsidiary Alpiq Grid Beteiligungs AG. Subsequently, 49.9% of the shares were sold to IST3 for a total of CHF 288 million together with 49.9% of the original loan. The remaining 50.1 %-stake in Alpiq Grid Beteiligungs AG shares was sold to SIRESO Société d'Investissement de Suisse Occidentale for CHF 146 million. Completion of this transaction is still subject to the non-exercise of pre-emption rights and is expected to occur in the 4th quarter of this year.
Together with the sale of the last loan tranche, Alpiq was able to successfully divest its entire stake in Swissgrid for a total of CHF 557 million. Furthermore, Alpiq will receive payments as compensation for keeping the embedded conversion rights during the remaining loan term. Alpiq will use the proceeds primarily to reduce net debt in order to make targeted investments in the future.