Italy's biggest power company Enel plans to become the second largest electricity company in France, according to an interview with Enel CEO Fulvio Conti in French newspaper Les Echos.
Enel will sign an agreement this with Electricite de France before the end of March, giving Italian and French companies extended access to each other’s power markets. Enel has already made an offer for a 35% share in power generating company Snet, held by EDF and Charbonnages de France.
The majority of Snet is controlled by Endesa, and Enel’s CEO outlined the company’s ambitions: Gas Natural had wanted to sell Snet to Iberdrola. I don’t know whether this agreement is still valid but we have already shown our interest in gaining 100% of the shares that Gas Natural would be forced to sell in Spain, in order to conclude their takeover of Endesa – and this means 65% of Snet.
If we are unable to obtain the (EDF and CDF) 35% share of Snet, EDF is obliged to supply to us an equivalent amount of capacity in France via an alternative agreement. Our objective is to achieve a market share of 7% in French generation by 2012, Mr Conti told the newspaper.