The stock goes up on the Stock Exchange Enel Green Power, which an hour and a half after the start of trading gained 1,1%, to 1,89 euros, after briefly touching 1,9 euros. In the same minutes, the Ftse Mib travels around parity.
The purchases of the shares of the energy company come in the wake of the rumors published by El Confidencial and then confirmed by the companies, on a possible integration of EGP's activities into Enel.
In a note, the companies specify that they have already "identified legal and financial consultants", but underline that any transaction would not envisage "any public purchase and/or exchange offer concerning EGP shares by and of Enel".
In any case, "Enel and Egp will promptly inform the market of the resolutions that may be adopted by their respective boards of directors regarding the indicated integration hypothesis", concludes the note. The group led by Francesco Starace owns 69,2% of EGP, a company listed in November 2010 at a price of 1,60 euros. Indiscretions about a possible delisting of the subsidiary had already circulated in recent weeks.
The reasons for a merger operation lie in the fact that Enel intends to fully incorporate the benefit represented by the rapidly expanding renewable energy business and one of the major growth drivers of the group led by Francesco Starace (he himself led EGP and knows it very well potential) for the next few years. In any case, the Enel's new industrial plan will be presented to investors on November 18 in London and on that occasion the company will disclose more precise details on the operation.
For now, Mediobanca securities analysts recall that the same operation was carried out years ago by Iberdrola with its subsidiary Iberdrola Renovables. "The transaction - it is noted - does not necessarily imply paying a premium to EGP's minority shareholders, an important factor for Enel since it still needs to focus on debt reduction, because it could be conceived as a merger between the two companies, approved by the extraordinary shareholders' meetings and therefore paid for with Enel's treasury shares instead of cash”, specify the analysts of the investment bank which maintain a neutral rating on Enel shares and a target price of 4,30 euros.
This morning, Enel's share on the Stock Exchange lost 0,5%, to 4,21 euros.
