Astaldi Agrees Share Sale Subject to Turkey Bridge Disposal

(Bloomberg) -- Astaldi SpA reached an agreement to raise 300 million euros ($353 million) of new capital, conditional on its sale of a key asset.

Japan’s IHI Corp. will provide 112.5 million euros of cash in exchange for an 18 percent stake in the Rome-based builder, and JPMorgan Chase & Co. plans to underwrite the remaining shares, according to a statement on Wednesday. The deal depends on Astaldi selling its 33 percent stake in a bridge over the Bosphorus strait in Turkey.

The capital increase hinges on Astaldi receiving “adequate offers” for the bridge, head of investor relations Alessandra Onorati said in a conference call, without disclosing a minimum acceptable price. Astaldi has received non-binding offers and expects to get final bids by the end of June, she said.

The company values its stake in the bridge at about 350 million euros, according to a company presentation. Astaldi has been drumming up support for the capital increase since writing down about 230 million euros on its exposure to Venezuela in November.

Separately, Chief Executive Officer Filippo Maria Stinellis said on the call that Astaldi is negotiating repayment of a 9 million-euro bilateral loan that was owed to Banco de Brasil SA on May 11.

Astaldi’s shares dropped 4.5 percent on Wednesday. Its 750 million euros of bonds due December 2020 fell about 5 cents on the euro to 83 cents, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

--With assistance from Chiara Albanese

To contact the reporters on this story: Antonio Vanuzzo in London at avanuzzo@bloomberg.net, Luca Casiraghi in London at lcasiraghi@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Abigail Moses at amoses5@bloomberg.net, Kenneth Pringle

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