Engie Is One of the Best-Positioned Utility Firms Amid Soaring Power Prices and Clean Spark Spreads

Engie is one of the three largest integrated international European utilities, along with Enel and Iberdrola. Under the tenure of previous CEO Isabelle Kocher, the firm sold EUR 16.5 billion of mostly commodity-exposed assets—E&P, LNG, and coal plants—to focus on regulated, renewables, and client-facing businesses. This strategy lowered the weight of activities that typically have volatile cash flows and no economic moats. However, Kocher was blamed for the lack of visibility of the client-facing businesses. After she was ousted by the board in early 2020, the firm shifted its strategy to reduce the weight of these activities leading to the sale of Engie's 32.05% stake in Suez to Veolia and of its multitechnical subsidiary Equans to Bouygues at attractive prices. The latter is part of an EUR 11 billion disposal plan by 2023. On the other hand, Engie will increase annual investments in renewables from 3 GW to 4 GW between 2022 and 2025 and 6 GW beyond.