Dec 10 (Reuters) - BlackRock has sold a 7.1% in Spanish gas utility Naturgy for around 1.7 billion euros ($1.99 billion) through an accelerated bookbuild placement managed by JPMorgan, the firm said on Thursday.
The transaction leaves BlackRock with around a 11.42% stake in Naturgy after completing the accelerated placement of 68,825,911 shares at a price of 24.75 euros per share.
That represents a discount of around 5.4% to Wednesday's closing price of 26.16 euros per share.
BlackRock became a shareholder
in Naturgy through its 2024 acquisition of Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), which had previously invested in the utility.
After selling the stake, BlackRock will be the company's fourth-largest shareholder, after the Spanish holding company Criteria, which holds an almost 24% stake. Private equity company CVC holds 18.6% and Australian fund IFM has a 15.2% stake.
The transaction, which is expected to increase the company's free float toward its target of around 25%, follows a period of strong performance for Naturgy, which has reported record earnings of around 2 billion euros annually over the past two years.
The company has benefited from increased output from its combined-cycle plants, which have operated more hours since an April 28 grid outage, enhancing supply security and helping avoid widespread disconnections.
($1 = 0.8555 euros)
(Reporting by Jesus Calero and Emma Pinedo; Editing by Jesús Aguado and Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Louise Heavens)
