The March family separates from CVC and acquires a 5% direct stake in Naturgy.

BarcelonaThe shareholding restructuring at Naturgy continues. The March family, through Corporación Financiera Alba, now directly controls 5% of Naturgy, after separating from CVC, with whom they jointly controlled 18% of the energy company's capital. This move comes after GIP, owned by BlackRock, would sell 7.1% of their stake and retained 12.626%, and La Caixa, through Criteria, will recover Alba has increased its stake by 2% compared to before the company's takeover bid this year, reinforcing its position as the largest shareholder with 25.986% of the capital. The March family's investment vehicle informed the Spanish National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) this Thursday that it was modifying its shareholder agreement with CVC. As a result of the change, the March family and CVC will maintain their governance commitments—that is, they will act as allies on the board of directors—but Alba will have direct control over its 5% stake and CVC over its 13%. Until now, this stake was held through the vehicle called Rioja Bidco. According to the March family, the objective of the modification is to have greater flexibility both to buy and sell shares. "Alba and the Rioja Group have signed a new shareholders' agreement that will replace the one signed in 2018 (and amended in 2019), incorporating the main aspects, including the pooling of voting rights and representation on the board, as well as alignment on governance principles and coordination of matters," states Al.

"In the resulting structure, Alba will now hold a direct 5.01% stake in Naturgy's share capital through Alba Europe SL, and Rioja Investments SL will maintain a 13.80% stake through, as before, the Rioja Group, via its 25.73% stake in Rioja Luxembourg SL and the 0.23% it held directly prior to the amendment. The new structure allows both partners greater flexibility without altering the governance or the joint objectives of their investment in Naturgy."