Italy's Ascopiave seeks to expand via M&A in gas distribution
By Giancarlo Navach
MILAN, Sept 26 (Reuters) -Italian regional utility Ascopiave ASCI.MI is aiming to grow further in the gas distribution market and is ready to bid for assets that Italgas IG.MI, Europe's biggest gas distributor, may be forced to sell on antitrust grounds if its acquisition of main domestic rival 2i Rete Gas goes through.
For now, Ascopiave, which is based in north-east Italy, has entered into exclusive negotiations with fellow utility A2A A2.MI to take over assets in gas. It will finance the deal with the sale of the remaining 25 percent of its Estenergy joint venture with Hera HRA.MI.
"Our policy is to continue to invest in gas distribution and we have entered in an exclusive agreement with A2A for the acquisition of 490,000 gas distribution points located in areas between Brescia, Bergamo, Pavia, and Cremona," Chairman and CEO Nicola Cecconato told Reuters.
To finance the acquisition of these assets, Ascopiave will exercise the put option in favour of Hera HRA.MI on the last 25 percent still held in Estenergy and the 3 percent in Hera Comm.
"The moment we are certain that the transaction with A2A will go through, we will exercise the put option to finance most of the operation, thus sanctioning the exit from the gas and power sales sector," Cecconato added.
Those two operations could raise a total of around 300 million euros.
Consistent with its growth strategy in the gas distribution sector, Ascopiave is looking closely at the planned merger deal between Italgas and 2i Rete Gas.
According to press reports, a binding offer from Italgas is expected in the coming weeks. Should the deal go through, the merger will lead to the creation of a group with a market share of around 55 percent in Italian gas distribution.
The size of the deal is likely to trigger remedies imposed by the Antitrust Authority, which could result in Italgas divesting some assets. Hence the potential interest of Ascopiave in taking over these assets, particularly the local ones.
"We do not exclude that if there will remedies to be taken in the Italgas-2i Rete Gas deal, we could also consider taking them over if they interest us. We are thinking of assets located in areas close to where we are," Cecconnato said.
Reporting by Giancarlo Navach
Editing by Keith Weir
免责声明: XM Group仅提供在线交易平台的执行服务和访问权限，并允许个人查看和/或使用网站或网站所提供的内容，但无意进行任何更改或扩展，也不会更改或扩展其服务和访问权限。所有访问和使用权限，将受下列条款与条例约束：(i) 条款与条例；(ii) 风险提示；以及(iii) 完整免责声明。请注意，网站所提供的所有讯息，仅限一般资讯用途。此外，XM所有在线交易平台的内容并不构成，也不能被用于任何未经授权的金融市场交易邀约和/或邀请。金融市场交易对于您的投资资本含有重大风险。
所有在线交易平台所发布的资料，仅适用于教育/资讯类用途，不包含也不应被视为用于金融、投资税或交易相关咨询和建议，或是交易价格纪录，或是任何金融商品或非应邀途径的金融相关优惠的交易邀约或邀请。
本网站上由XM和第三方供应商所提供的所有内容，包括意见、新闻、研究、分析、价格、其他资讯和第三方网站链接，皆保持不变，并作为一般市场评论所提供，而非投资性建议。所有在线交易平台所发布的资料，仅适用于教育/资讯类用途，不包含也不应被视为适用于金融、投资税或交易相关咨询和建议，或是交易价格纪录，或是任何金融商品或非应邀途径的金融相关优惠的交易邀约或邀请。请确保您已阅读并完全理解，XM非独立投资研究提示和风险提示相关资讯，更多详情请点击 这里。
