The deadline for those interested in Abengoa’s production units to submit their offers comes to an end this Monday. The already well-known Urbas, Ultramar and Sinclair have been joined ‘in extremis’ by a new competitor, Cox Energy.
The Spanish renewable energy group presented its offer to acquire Abengoa’s assets before the Mercantile Court of Seville on Monday. As explained by the company in a statement, this offer is made within the reception period authorized by the court in relation to the bankruptcy in which 33 Abengoa subsidiaries entered on November 10, 2022.
Viability and geographic weight
Cox Energy’s offer proposes to acquire all business areas and Abengoa’s corporate, presenting “a solid industrial plan that guarantees the viability of the company in the short, medium and long term.”
From Cox they have explained that this industrial plan allows to maintain the 9,505 jobs of Abengoa and its headquarters in Seville, at the same time that it will take advantage of the geographical complementarity of both organizations, since Abengoa will reach those countries where Cox Energy is already present. This is the case of regions such as North America, Central America or the Caribbean, in order to form a “leader” engineering group.
Cox Energy’s activity in Spain and Latin America, especially in Chile, has allowed it to propose a financial and industrial plan for the next three years with immediate and firm workloads worth more than 3,200 million euros, under the ‘Cost-plus’ scheme, with guaranteed profitability for Abengoa.
In addition, these immediate projects will be increased with a new portfolio of highly visible initiatives for the period 2026-2030, which will also represent the workload that Cox Energy will contribute directly to Abengoa under the same guaranteed profitability scheme.
Offer “meditated” and “solid”
The offer has emerged from Cox Energy in a “meditated” way, after carrying out an in-depth analysis of Abengoa in recent weeks, together with Cox’s financial and legal advisors, Arcano and Medina Cuadros Abogados, and through meetings with the management team of the Andalusian company and union representatives of the workers.
“These conversations have allowed us to understand the financial and operational reality of the company, and thus present a solid proposal, which is accompanied by an industrial plan that maximizes the complementary capacities of both companies, guaranteeing Abengoa’s future”, has stated the president and founding partner of Cox Energy, Enrique Riquelme.
Along the same lines, Riquelme has indicated that at Cox Energy they are “aware” of the financial difficulties that Abengoa is going through but he has been “convinced” that his proposal constitutes “the present and future solution” for Abengoa and the start of a new stage where the company “returns to being a benchmark in Spain and abroad”.
