Salini spends €200 million on Impregilo stake building

Privately-owned Italian contractor Salini has so far spent around €200 million building a stake in Impregilo, €123 million of which was spent during 2011, according to the company's preliminary annual results.

Salini now owns 25% of Impregilo, Italy's largest contractor, after building up the 15% stake it owned at the start of January by purchasing shares on the open market.

Investment consortium IGLI owns about 30% of Italian stock exchange-listed Impregilo, while McKinley Capital Management has a stake of over 2%, Amber Capital also has a stake of just over 2% and, aside from Salini's stake, the rest of the stock (40.2%) is free floating.

Meanwhile, Salini reported a 27% year-on-year increase in revenues in its preliminary 2011 results, to €1.4 billion. Earnings before tax grew 50% compared to 2010, to €83 million, and the company reported a net financial position of €34 million at the end of 2011, even after deducting the €123 million invested in Impregilo shares.

Salini said its backlog reached a record €10.4 billion in 2011 after a new order intake of €1.4 billion during the fiscal year.

The company said it was consolidating its strategic position in the large infrastructure sector, and had "seized opportunities" offered by the development of the international market, despite the contraction in Europe's economy and in Italy in particular.

It said the current level of backlog confirms the high growth potential of revenue expected for the next few years.

"The Group is poised to seize further important organic and external growth opportunities," Salini said.