To assess the suitability of Verbund AG for issuing hybrid bonds, we evaluate its financial health, profitability, and debt capacity as of the end of 2022: 1. **Profitability and Earnings Growth**: The company demonstrated massive growth in 2022. Revenue increased from approximately 4.78 billion EUR to 10.35 billion EUR. Profit attributable to owners of the parent grew significantly from 873.56 million EUR in 2021 to 1.72 billion EUR in 2022. Basic EPS rose from 2.51 EUR to 4.94 EUR. 2. **Cash Flow**: Operating cash flow improved dramatically, reaching over 2 billion EUR in 2022 compared to 98 million EUR in 2021, indicating a very strong capacity to cover interest payments. 3. **Balance Sheet Strength**: Equity attributable to owners of the parent increased from 5.46 billion EUR to 7.28 billion EUR during 2022. The company maintains a substantial asset base of over 19 billion EUR. 4. **Debt Profile**: While financial liabilities have increased (Noncurrent financial liabilities rose from 1.83 billion EUR to 2.84 billion EUR), the robust profitability, high EBITDA (3.16 billion EUR), and strong cash flow generation provide a very comfortable buffer to service additional debt, including hybrid instruments which can be treated as equity for credit rating purposes. 5. **Market Presence**: As a major, well-established Austrian utility (AG), the company possesses high transparency and stable operations, which are typical characteristics of issuers of hybrid capital seeking to optimize capital structures without diluting shareholders. Given the massive surge in profits, strong liquidity, and large-scale operations, Verbund AG displays the financial profile of a high-quality issuer for hybrid bonds. Strongly Suitable