The mystery deepens about tender to win the Rtr plants. Six days before the deadline for the submission of binding offers – set for Thursday 12 July – the doubts as to who put on the plate the most attractive offer for the seller Terra Firma (assisted by the advisers JP Morgan, Jefferies and Unicredit) they remain intact.
The most important M&A operation in Italy in the production of electricity from solar sources of 2018 could soon reach the turning point. In the next few hours the British fund should lift reserves on the interlocutor with whom to enter into an exclusive negotiation for its 134 plants located throughout the country with an installed capacity of 334 MW, a morsel too greedy for the main competitors in the sector to pass up. In fact, whoever manages to win will automatically become the first national player in a market which, as demonstrated in recent years, has ample room for growth.
According to some rumors reported on July 18 by Reuters, F2i - the infrastructure fund led by Renato Ravanelli - would be ever closer to "victory". “There is still work to do, the game is not over, but F2i is favored over the other contender which should be Sonnedix, a solar energy producer controlled by funds referable to JP Morgan.”, this is what an anonymous source underlined to the news agency.
Too bad this isn't the only rumor currently out there. Second Milano Finanza in fact, F2i would seriously still be in the running but not alone. EF Solare Italia would instead be in the match, the joint venture between F2i and Enel Green Power led by Diego Percopo.
From EF Solar at the moment no comment on participation in the tender, but in an interview given to FIRSTonline last July 9, CEO Percopo spoke of a interest of the company in the Terra Firma plants.
Through this acquisition, the company, which already owns 123 plants with a capacity of 395 MW, could decisively consolidate its portfolio, beating the competition in the Italian market both in terms of number of plants and installed capacity.
Milano Finanza underlines, however, that the dossier is being carried forward "without the support of Enel Green Power. So the timing of the operation will be dictated exclusively by F2i”.
But be careful, because breaking the eggs in the basket of Italian companies active in the photovoltaic sector could be, as mentioned, Sonnedix which should be the second competitor running for the energy assets of Rtr. An opponent of no small importance if we take into account that we are talking about international operator with over 700 megawatts installed, active in France, Spain, USA, Puerto Rico, Chile, South Africa, Japan and Italy and controlled by JP Morgan AM.
We remind you that, on the eve of the expiry of the terms for the offers, two Italian giants of the caliber of Eni and Enel (which also participated individually) have decided to take a step backgiving up the race. Even earlier, A2a and Erg had taken off. The value of the transaction is between 1,3-1,5 billion euros including the debt, equal to approximately 900 million, which will in any case need to be refinanced.
