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Enel is Ready to Buy Assets of Gas Natural MARKETPLACE By Bloomberg

Posted on: Monday, 13 February 2006, 12:00 CST

By Thomas Mulier

Enel, Italy's biggest utility, said Sunday that it was ready to bid for all the assets that Gas Natural needs to sell for the Spanish government to allow the gas distributor to proceed in its takeover of Endesa.

Enel, based in Rome, said that its Spanish unit, Viesgo, was willing to pay "immediately" and estimated that purchasing all the assets for sale would raise its share of the Spanish market to 13.5 percent from 4 percent. Gas Natural had agreed to sell assets to Iberdrola, Spain's second-largest power company, after Endesa, when it announced its takeover bid.

"The sale of assets to Enel Viesgo wouldn't create any antitrust problems and would generate more competition in the market," Viesgo's chief executive, Miguel Antonanzas, said in the statement.

The company said it has sent Gas Natural a formal letter of interest.

Under conditions set by the Spanish Finance Ministry when it approved the deal on Feb. 3, Gas Natural, Spain's largest gas supplier, would be required to make available to competitors the equivalent of 10 percent of Spain's gas market, limit its share of the gas distribution to 60 percent and sell 4,300 megawatts of electricity generation capacity.

Enel wants to acquire all the generation and distribution assets for sale in the Iberian Peninsula, said its chief executive, Fulvio Conti, in the statement. He has made similar comments since Gas Natural announced its takeover bid in September.

Source: International Herald Tribune

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