Green hydrogen can start to have a stock market value. It is a form of clean energy with zero environmental impact that comes from the electrolysis of water powered by energy from renewable sources. In this sense, Thyssenkrupp is evaluating the listing of the subsidiary Uhde Chlorine Engineers, active in the production of cathodes and systems for hydrogen, for 5 billion euros. The ipo should take place on the Xetra segment of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange by the first quarter of 2022. The company is 34% owned by De Nora, a group specialized in the production of electrodes for industrial applications (useful for alkaline electrolysis which allows the extraction of molecule of hydrogen) which has entrusted, as MF-Milano Finanza wrote, a mandate to Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse to work at
If these assessments were confirmed, De Nora’s stake in Uhde alone would be worth about 1.7 billion, “against 1.3 billion of the value attributed to the entire De Nora by Snam”, notes today Equita Sim (rating hold on Snam, price target at € 5.1). This is because Snam, in turn, holds 37% of Nora in its portfolio, which should be listed within the first half of 2022, in an operation that could value the company at around 2 billion euros, according to initial estimates. Of course, if Uhde Chlorine Engineers went on the stock market at 5 billion, even the fork on Nora should perhaps be revised.
In 2020 De Nora closed with a turnover of around 500 million euros against an ebitda of around 90 million. When Blackstone sold its stake to Snam in November 2020, the 100% enterprise value of the Italian hydrogen group was 1.2 billion. One year later, it passed to 2 billion and now the valuation could already rise by 4-500 million to 2.5 billion.
Support for clean energy also comes from the United States. The White House envoy to COP26, John Kerry, stressed that Washington will collaborate with Italy to make it the European hydrogen hub. According to Kerry, for the distribution of the green hydrogen that will be produced in Saudi Arabia, one could think of a pipeline that passes through Greece to bring the gas to Italy and then distributed through the Snam network in Europe.
Saudi Arabia, which started the Neon project for $ 5 billion in investments to produce 650 million tons per day of green hydrogen (transported by sea), is considering the option of a pipeline to Europe. For Snam, Equita argues, “the possibility of using its own network (already tested for the transport of hydrogen-methane mixtures) to import hydrogen into Europe would be a very important innovation”. In the sum of the parts, Equita values ​​37% of De Nora at purchase prices and therefore the potential benefit of Uhde’s listing, if the prices quoted by Bloomberg were confirmed, would be around 3-4%. Today the stock rises by 0.3% to € 4.97 while the Ftse Mib is positive for 0.24%.
Hydrogen converts to electricity without greenhouse gas emissions when fed through a fuel cell or burned in a turbine and can also be used to store energy as well. It is considered to be the key to reducing emissions from high-carbon industrial processes such as chemical and steel manufacturing. Factors that are attracting more and more money from investors who bet on the switch from fossil fuels. An unprecedented surge in electricity and natural gas prices has led to the need to accelerate on diversified energy sources. After gaining 18.3% yesterday, today the natural gas traded in Amsterdam rises by 4.6% to 98.6 euros. (All rights reserved)
