Spanish energy giant Iberdrola to sell US $5B in assets, exit Mexico

Iberdrola, Europe’s largest powerfulness company, has hired concern slope Barclays to merchantability each 15 of its renewable vigor plants successful Mexico successful an effort to exit the country, the Spanish quality website El Confidencial reported Wednesday.

Citing anonymous sources adjacent to the deal, El Confidencial said Iberdrola is looking to merchantability owed to interest astir Mexico’s fiscal and ineligible stability.

Six upwind farms are among the assets that Iberdrola is selling done the concern slope Barclays. (Iberdrola)

The assets connected connection — six upwind farms, 3 star photovoltaic plants and six cogeneration oregon combined rhythm units — are valued astatine US $4.7 billion.

In 2023, Iberdrola agreed to merchantability 55% of its Mexican assets to the Mexican government for US $6 billion. Then-president Andrés Manuel López Obrador described the acquisition arsenic a “new nationalization” of the energy market.

Before that sell-off, the Spanish steadfast was the largest backstage generator successful Mexico, with much than 11,000 MW installed, providing much than 15% of the nation’s electricity.

By then, Iberdrola had been a predominant people of López Obrador, who sought to springiness state-owned energy inferior CFE bulk power implicit the section powerfulness market. 

In 2022, the authorities disconnected an Iberdrola powerfulness plant from the nationalist grid. Two years earlier, Iberdrola had threatened to halt further investment, decrying a deficiency of clarity successful authorities vigor policy.

After the 2023 transaction, Iberdrola insisted it would stay successful Mexico, but El Universal columnist Mario Maldonado reported that the institution lacked assurance successful President Claudia Sheinbaum’s vigor policies, which proceed to prioritize the CFE, prompting the determination to propulsion retired of Mexico.

Although Iberdrola declined to remark connected its statement with Barclays and its pending departure from Mexico, it did denote a superior summation of 5 cardinal euros (US $5.87 billion) to concern investments successful energy networks successful the United Kingdom and the United States.

Over the adjacent six years, Iberdrola plans to put immoderate 55 cardinal euros (US $64.7 billion) successful energy grids, much than 80% of which volition beryllium invested successful the U.K. and the U.S. 

Iberdrola president Ignacio Sánchez Galán described the program arsenic “an unprecedented concern opportunity,” according to the paper Reforma.

With reports from El Confidencial, Reforma, El Economista, El Universal and Reuters