Major Utilities Consolidation Sees The Strong Get Stronger

CFW's prediction of increased consolidation in Europe's infrastructure space (Infrastructure M&A To Hold Up In 2009, CFW, December 2008) played out in a big way this week, with two multi-billion deals. Firstly, and after lengthy negotiations, an agreement was finalised between Spanish infrastructure major Acciona and Italy's utilities company Enel for the acquisition by Enel of the former's 25% stake in Endesa, the Spanish utilities company they jointly acquired in October 2007. The move will leave Enel as sole owner and greatly increase its capacity in Spain and Latin America. Enel has said that the deal is worth a total of EUR11.1bn (including EUR1.5bn of dividends going to Acciona) and that it has arranged a syndicated loan with 12 banks for EUR8bn.

To read the full article, please choose one of the following options: