The major investment in the US was emphasized yesterday by the management of Cenergy Holdings on the occasion of the €200 million capital increase, which started and will be completed next Thursday.

STRATEGY 

The group's CEO, Alexis Alexiou, stood on the great comparative advantage of Cenergy, which combines two sectors: cables through Hellenic Cables and steel pipes through Corinth Pipeworks. This offers turnkey projects to its customers in Greece and mainly abroad. According to Mr. Alexiou, Cenergy's strategy is based on three main pillars.

• The development of new innovative products 
•  Further geographic expansion, especially in the US
• The integration of new technologies in the factories, such as automation, robotics and AI

In his turn, Cenergy Holdings' CFO, Alexandros Benos, emphasized three key points that create fertile ground for further growth of the group's activities.

• The first relates to the general macroeconomic environment globally. In particular, he said that "the demand for energy is constantly increasing, due to the rise of the world's population and the growth of the middle class, but also the more... energy-hungry technologies such as computers and AI 
•  Secondly, he highlighted the moves by governments and institutions to move the planet to something greener in the future, which we have already seen with the greater penetration of renewables—first with onshore wind and photovoltaics and then with offshore and floating wind—and natural gas 
•  Finally, Mr. Benos highlighted the "huge amount of money invested in infrastructure" in order to achieve the green transition, such as the development of electrification.

 INVESTMENTS 

To meet these challenges, Benos underlined that "Cenergy has made major investments. For example, Hellenic Cables invested in Corinth and now this plant is considered one of the most complete and technologically advanced submarine cable plants in the world and the first in Europe". He added that "we bought this (Fulgor) factory in 2011 and in 2023 we doubled its production capacity in submarine cables compared to two years ago. In fact, the order book up to June showed that by 2028 all submarine cable production is already sold out." Referring to the onshore cable plant in Thebes, Cenergy's CFO said that "two years ago we acquired the old plant of Petzetakis, located 10 kilometres away, and moved the production of telecom cables to Eleonas. We estimate that by the end of 2025 we will be producing twice as many land cables," adding that "these are also sold by 2027."

UNITED STATES

A significant part of the €200m capital raise will be directed to the US; as Benos said, "in a market that is protected by tariffs and specifications, you either have to export there and have the country's restrictions, or you have to put your foot down with production and compete with the two giants, Presmyan and Southwire, which have $8.5-$9bn turnover each.". Benos said there is a lot of demand because the US market is much further behind in onshore cables (DEDO style) within cities, as the existing networks have been in place since the 1930s and need to be renewed.

This was the reason why Cenergy decided to produce only medium and high voltage overland cables in the first phase, choosing the port of Baltimore, which will also serve the production of submarine cables in the future if the market grows. The company has already invested $30 million to purchase the land