Financial position
Capital structure
Various instruments are used to finance the maintenance and expansion of the energy networks and other activities. For this finance, Alliander is dependent on its shareholders, institutional investors and banks. Alliander's creditworthiness is rated by rating agencies that publish their findings. The capitalisation of Alliander as at year-end 2016 was made up as follows:
Capital structure
As the capital structure reveals, Alliander is 60% equity-financed. Shareholders' equity is provided by the shareholders and is increased by the partial retention of the net profit each year. The shareholders receive a percentage of the net profit as dividend each year. Holders of the subordinated perpetual bond loan receive a fixed return on their investment out of the reported profit provided a dividend is declared. Alliander does not have access to finance by issuing new shares to private investors because private shareholdings in Dutch regional network companies are prohibited by law. To raise external finance, Alliander needs to turn to providers of borrowed capital. These are mainly institutional investors that buy debt instruments issued by Alliander. To meet its long-term finance requirements, Alliander has issued five bond loans that are quoted on the stock exchange, including a subordinated perpetual bond loan. The loans are listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange and NYSE Euronext Amsterdam. To meet its variable finance needs in the short term, Alliander regularly issues short-term commercial paper. Additionally, Alliander has a contracted committed credit facility with a number of banks to provide a backup source of finance should it not be possible to raise the necessary funds on the capital market or the money market.
The development in the net debt position during the year 2016 is shown below.
Development of net debt position
Net debt position
€ million | 31 December 2016 | 31 December 2015 | ||
Long-term interest-bearing debt | 1,483 | 1,197 | ||
Short-term interest-bearing debt | 81 | 471 | ||
Finance lease liabilities | 168 | 162 | ||
Gross debt | 1,732 | 1,830 | ||
Cash and cash equivalents | 48 | 89 | ||
Current financial assets | 15 | 25 | ||
Investments held for lease obligations related to cross-border leases | 224 | 229 | ||
Total cash and cash equivalents and investments | 287 | 343 | ||
Net debt in accordance with the annual financial statements (IFRS) | 1,445 | 1,487 | ||
50% of the subordinated perpetual bond loan | 248 | 248 | ||
Net debt on the basis of Alliander's financial policy | 1,693 | 1,735 | ||
The net debt position fell by €88 million to €1,693 million as a result of the redemption of long-term EMTN loans and current ECP loans, offset to some extent by the issue of green bonds of €300 million in April.