ELPE: Green turn with investments of 4 billion euros

By Harry Floudopoulos

The green light for the spin-off of the refining sector of petroleum and petrochemicals of Hellenic Petroleum was recently given by the extraordinary General Meeting of the company’s shareholders. At the same time, the amendment of the articles of association was approved as a consequence of the secondment of the refining sector. Essentially, with the decisions of the General Assembly, a subsidiary is created, Hellenic Petroleum Societe Anonyme, Refining, Supply and Sales of Petroleum and Petrochemicals with the distinctive title Hellenic Petroleum DEPPP SA, while Hellenic Petroleum is transformed into a holding company that will remain a holding company.

Under the Holdings company will be included all the participations of the listed company as it is foreseen to create new subsidiaries for the individual branches of activities, such as for the activity in RES. In fact, in this context, a new extraordinary General Assembly is expected to take place to complete the transformation at the beginning of 2022.

In the context of the extraordinary General Meeting, the CEO of the group A. Siamisis presented the progress and the goals of the strategic transformation plan of ELPE, which aspires to mark the beginning of a new era for the group and in general for the energy sector in the Greek economy. .

Mr. Siamisis stressed that the goal of the Vision 2025 program was to record and understand the rapid changes in the market environment, to strengthen traditional activities and to develop the group in other related sectors.

According to the CEO of ELPA, despite the difficulties and the crisis of the pandemic, it was decided that the transformation should begin, with the Vision 2025 plan determining what the group should achieve and how it will achieve it. “For the first time since the founding of the group, we set ESG as a strategic goal and emissions as an indicator that will measure these performances,” said Mr. Siamisis.

To achieve this we must change our strategy and in this context we see the distribution of funds to new activities but also the divestment from incompatible activities. In an investment budget of 3.5 – 4 billion euros for the next 5 to 10 years, over 50% of the goal is to invest in new energy and in sectors with a lower environmental footprint. The remaining investments will be directed to the preservation of the traditional activity and the optimization of its environmental footprint.

At the same time, as Mr. Siamisis mentioned, the group is in the process of changing the corporate identity, which will reflect both where the group comes from and at the same time will show where it wants to go in the future.

The new strategy of the ELPE group is based on two pillars: the first concerns the improvement and protection of the core activity, which implies the improvement of competitiveness but also the departure from incompatible activities. The second pillar concerns the development of new energy which is a priority for the group. In this area, ELPE shows rapid growth and is perhaps the fastest growing company in the industry.

Both pillars are equally important, petroleum products do not belong to the past, we want them to be part of the solution for a cleaner energy, Mr. Siamisis underlined.

Regarding clean energy, Mr. Siamisis announced that by the end of the year a 300MW RES portfolio will be completed and put into operation. “We did not delay, we moved with great speed, a large part is not the acquisition of finished projects, but the construction of new ones” said the CEO of ELPE, adding that the Kozani park is completed, which is the largest RES park in Greece and is among the 5-6 largest parks in Europe: At the portfolio level, ELPE has 1.5 GW, while as Mr. Siamisis mentioned, movements outside Greece have also started.

Regarding the changes that were approved today, Mr. Siamisis stated that the new company created by the spin-off of the petroleum and petrochemical refining sector, will be a 100% subsidiary of the parent holding that will retain the role of listed company.

Regarding the corporate identity, Mr. Siamisis clarified that the ELPE and EKO marks will be maintained and used by the subsidiaries and at the same time a new corporate identity will be developed that will embrace both traditional and new activities.

Finally, the director of ELPE made a brief overview of the steps taken so far in the framework of the Vision 2025 plan:

In the area of ​​ESG and the emission reduction strategy, the environmental impact reduction plan has been completed. In the new business strategy, the group reaches an installed capacity of 300 MW while considering its entry into offshore wind farms. At the same time, the digital transformation is in progress, while in the hydrocarbon explorations, the 2 land blocks have been returned and the return of the Patraikos block is in progress. In the part of corporate governance, the changes that upgraded the representation of the Board of Directors proceeded. In the part of the corporate structure, the current General Assembly is proceeding with the transformation. Finally, in the area of ​​corporate identity, the changes are expected to be completed at the beginning of the new year.