Press Releases

Media: Clarin newspaper
Date: Friday, Aug 8, 2008
By:  Silvia Naishtat

Chemo Group, a company headed by the Argentinean Sigman family, acquired 20% of Gas Natural BAN

With a very low profile and in spite of the fact that his group plays in the major leagues, Hugo Sigman surprised the business world yesterday by acquiring 20% of the Argentine company Gas Natural BAN.
Last week exactly, Clarín announced in exclusive that a portion of this company was offered to sale.

The natural gas distributor that has 1.4 million customers in the North and West areas of the Province of Buenos Aires and is controlled by Spain's largest natural gas supplier confirmed the deal yesterday.

The statement indicated that negotiations were carried out without obstacles and that the agreement was reached through Chemo, a holding owned by the Sigman family with multiple investments in Europe and China. It was whispered at Sigman´s huge offices, elegantly decorated with paintings and sculptures of great size from the most famous contemporary artists, that they were encouraged to have a stake in Gas Natural BAN to broaden their portfolio. The company is engaged also in forest exploitation in the province of Corrientes where forest biomass exploitation projects are being developed to produce energy. The truth is that Sigman joined the local entrepreneurs club which started to have participation in privately held companies.

Gas Natural will retain its majority holding in Gas Natural BAN, at 50.4% and will continue to control the companies. They further explained that the portion of the company offered to be acquired was owned by Soldati Group, then by the US firm LG&E, and finally acquired by Gas Natural. They further stated that “this sale is in line with our policy of incorporating local partners, as in the case of México and Brazil". People closed to Sigman assured that this acquisition, amounting to $56 millions, was made with the Group’s own funds.

A psychiatrist by profession, Sigman is more known in the cultural environment than among his own colleagues. His companies grew with the manufacture and commercialization of active ingredients for pharmaceuticals. Today, they are the second pharmaceutical company that manufactures the vaccine against the foot-to-mouth disease, which has been recently tested in Brazil: they are preparing themselves to make the leap. Chemo Group, headed in Barcelona by Sigman’s son, Leonardo, has expanded to 24 countries in the pharmaceutical and veterinary fields. Today, Chemo is a multinational holding but initiated its activities in Argentina, in 1940 through the foundation of Laboratorios Sintyal by the Gold family. In 1977, the married couple formed by biochemist Silvia Gold and Hugo Sigman set foot in Spain to open the first commercial branch of Laboratorios Sintyal in Barcelona.

The company continued to grow through offices established in Madrid, Switzerland, China, Hungary and through the construction of several plants in Italy and Spain. In 2006, as a step in international expansion to China, Chemo group owns shares in several companies. Another joint venture of Sigman in Argentina is Biogénsis, leader in the veterinary field sharing 50% of the company with Laboratorios Bagó.

Chemo enters the energy industry with its incorporation to Gas BAN, a national gas distributor which operates near thirty gas distribution centers and supplies residential customers in Buenos Aires.

Incidentally, the sale of 20% of Gas Natural BAN has unleashed all kinds of speculations. The firm is controlled by the Spanish companies Repsol and Caixa. Yesterday, they denied having plans to cut down its business in Argentina. They emphasized that they are the exception to the rule. It’s the only privatized company that obtained a tariff-renegotiation. The agreement expires in 2037.

http://www.clarin.com/diario/2008/08/05/elpais/p-01730259.htm