MADRID: Spanish renewable energy company Ignis has hired Citigroup to prepare ‍a potential initial ‍public offering, newspaper Expansion reported on Wednesday, citing ​unidentified market sources.

The process remains at an early stage, ⁠and several options are under review, including a conventional IPO with ⁠new shares, a ‌sale of existing shares, or a combination of both, according to the report.

Neither Ignis nor ⁠Citigroup immediately replied to requests for comment.

Expansion also said a dual-track process is being considered, in which part of the capital could be floated on the stock ⁠market and the rest ​placed with one or more large funds.

Citi is sounding out possible ‍listing venues, although Madrid is the initial option given the company's ​headquarters are in Spain, the report added.

According to Expansion, Ignis' valuation has not yet been set, but the starting point would be no lower than 1 billion to 1.2 billion euros ($1.2 billion-$1.4 billion) - the valuation at which investors led by Egypt's EFG Hermes joined the company a few years ago.

Spain has seen no IPOs of green-energy companies since Ecoener's ⁠listing in May 2021 and ‌Acciona Energia's in June 2021.

Some later deals instead involved delistings after takeovers, including Opdenergy in April 2024 following ‌a bid ⁠by Antin and Solarpack's 2021 buyout by EQT.

($1 = 0.8338 euros) (Reporting ⁠by David Latona; Editing by Louise Heavens)