Lausanne – Alpiq is using this year’s call option to repay in full its public hybrid bond of CHF 650 million. As Alpiq has been able to secure the group’s long-term financial stability over the last three years, the company now has very solid financing and can therefore pay back the hybrid financing after 11.5 years.
Alpiq has been able to sustainably strengthen the company’s resilience in recent years. The key factors that contributed to this are the focus on the core business in European markets, the stronger cooperation throughout the entire value chain and a risk management system that has been fundamentally adapted to the new market dynamics. Alpiq CFO Luca Baroni: “Alpiq has proven its resistance to crises in recent years, has sufficient financial resources and is in a very solid operational position. The net financial situation and the equity base are the foundations guiding Alpiq strategically into the future.”
The figures published in the half-year report at the end of August 2024 have already underlined Alpiq’s financial strength. At the end of June 2024, Alpiq had liquidity of CHF 2,209 million, net financial assets of CHF 693 million and an equity ratio of 55%. This strong financial position enabled Alpiq to repay a bond of CHF 260 million that matured in July without refinancing. Now the company can take another step by also fully repaying the hybrid bond from its own funds in mid-November 2024. Even after repaying the bond, Alpiq is in a very strong position to continue the company’s strategic development.
Alpiq’s extremely flexible power plant portfolio means it is already contributing to properly and rapidly integrating wind and solar energy into the energy system. Alpiq wants to further consolidate this role. Flexibility will become increasingly important in the future to be able to manage short-, medium- and long-term production and consumption fluctuations in the electricity grid. In addition to hydropower and storage projects, flexible thermal capacities at strategically important locations remain relevant for grid stability. Alpiq is also increasingly focusing on new technologies such as flexible battery storage for short-term fluctuations in the electricity grid and the industrial production of green hydrogen or methanol as long-term storage and as a way of decarbonising industries with the need of high process-heat or in the heavy goods transport sector.
The strengths in the area of flexibility and the expertise in energy trading, marketing and the targeted sale of energy products on the markets and for major industrial customers are to be further expanded in the coming years.
