Spain's Gas Natural to Divest €1bn of Italian Assets
Spanish utility Gas Natural (GN) said late October 13 that it had agreed to sell €1.02bn ($1.20bn) worth of assets in Italy.
The distribution assets of Gas Natural Italia and Nedgia are to be sold to 2i Rete Gas for €727mn, while supplier Gas Natural Vendita Italia (GNVI) is being sold to Edison, part of France’s EDF, for €293mn.
GN said that the enterprise value of €1.02bn being paid on its disposals corresponds to an equity value of €759mn and a minority net debt of €261mn.
The transactions are expected to be completed between December 2017 and March 2018 and generate a post-tax capital gain for GN of around €190mn.
Milan-based 2i Rete Gas is Italy’s second-largest distributor with a market share of 17% in terms of supply points, managing a network of more than 58,000km. In 2016, it distributed around 5.5bn m³ of natural gas. It is 71.97%-owned by F2i, which itself is owned by several Italian bank shareholders plus Chinese sovereign wealth fund CIC.
Nedgia, based near Bari, is the seventh largest Italian gas distributor and operates in 223 municipalities in eight regions of southern Italy (Abruzzo, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Lazio, Molise, Puglia and Sicily) and has a network of 7,300km.
In 2016, GNVI sold 3 TWh (0.28bn m³) of gas in southern and central Italy. Its divestment to Edison includes an 11 TWh/yr (1bn m³/yr) gas supply Azeri gas contract that begins in 2020. The sale price includes the €30mn value of that gas contract, plus €20mn to be paid out only in 2021, once the Trans Adriatic Pipeline starts up.
Edison CEO Marc Benayoun said October 13: "Through the acquisition of [1bn m3/yr] Shah Deniz 2 contract, we enlarge our gas supply portfolio guaranteeing gas at a competitive price to all our customers and the security of the Italian energy system in the long term."
Mark Smedley