Sempra’s takeover of IEnova nearly complete

US-based energy infrastructure company Sempra Energy said May 25 it was moving ever closer to its goal of acquiring its Mexican counterpart IEnova.

Sempra announced the results of its exchange offer for the remaining shares in Infraestructura Energética Nova (IEnova) it does not already own. After the latest offer expired the previous day, Sempra said it expected to claim a 96.4% ownership interest in IEnova.

“Accordingly, Sempra Energy is one step closer to achieving its goal of acquiring the remaining 3.6% interest,” the US-based company said.

As such, Sempra said that, as requested, IEnova shares would be delisted from the Mexican Stock Exchange, ending its existence as a publicly-traded company. In its place, Sempra would begin trading on Mexico’s exchange starting May 28, running concurrently on the New York Stock Exchange under ticker symbol SRE.

“Many of Mexico's most successful companies are listed there," Sempra CEO Jeffrey W. Martin said. "This is an important step forward in advancing our Sempra Infrastructure platform, which we expect will create scale, unlock portfolio synergies, highlight value and better position the business for growth."

The offer for IEnova is part of an effort that began in December for Sempra to streamline its non-utility components under one self-funding platform dubbed Sempra Infrastructure Partners. That effort is meant to combine Sempra’s LNG segment with that of IEnova.

Sempra in early April sold a 20% stake in Sempra Infrastructure Partners to investment firm KKR for $3.37bn in cash as part of that effort.

In November, Sempra’s LNG division took a final investment decision on the Energia Costa Azul LNG plant in northwestern Mexico. The terminal will be the first to ship gas from western states such as Texas and New Mexico from the Pacific coast, reducing delivery times to Asian markets and eliminating the need to use the Panama Canal.