Greece’s largest electric power company aims to buy Enel Romania
The Greek Public Power Company (PPC) is gearing to buy 70% of Enel Romania and become one of the major energy providers in the country.
Enel Romania, a subsidiary of the Italian Enel group, is valued at around EUR 1.8 bln, according to Profit.ro. The company is one the largest private investors in the energy sector nationally, being both a producer and transporter of energy.
Enel operates networks with a total length of roughly 128,000 kilometers in the south (Bucharest included), the Banat and Dobrogea regions. Overall, Enel Romania controls a third of the national energy distribution system.
Voices in Enel Romania’s management have recently decried the government’s capping of energy prices, saying that the regulation is not conducive to investments. Alberto De Paoli, Enel’s financial director, said that the energy cap could impact the continued presence of the group in Romania.
Enel has been looking to sell minority share packages in its Romanian operations since 2019, and had courted several investment funds to that end. This time, however, PPC is looking to buy a controlling share of Enel Romania. An agreement between the two has already been signed, along with an evaluation of the subsidiary at EUR 1.3 bln.
PPC is expected to pay around EUR 300-400 mln from its own funds and cover the rest through loans in order to acquire Enel Romania. Georgios Stassis, the current CEO of PPC, was the head of Enel Romania between 2016 and 2019.
Founded in 1950, PPC is Greece’s leading electricity company, and has approximately 6 million customers in the country, which it supplies with the help of thermal, hydroelectric, and renewable power plants and energy sources. It also operates in over 30 countries worldwide and has an asset base of roughly EUR 3 bln.
The group announced its intention to enter the Romanian market a year ago, amassing EUR 1 bln from investors for the move.
The Greek state owns a minority share package of 34% in PPC.
(Photo source: Dei.gr)
