The Italian energy group Enel has entered into an Exclusivity Agreement with the Greek power group Public Power Corporation (PPC) for the potential sale of all its equity stakes in Romania. The two companies will negotiate the transaction until the end of January 2023, then PPC will carry out appropriate due diligence on the target assets and submit a binding offer to Enel.
Enel has been active on the Romanian electricity market since 2005 and operates through three power distribution companies, namely E-Distributie Muntenia (78% Enel), E-Distributie Banat (51%), E-Distributie Dobrogea (51%), and two energy supply companies (Enel Energie Muntenia, and Enel Energie). The group distributes around 9-10 TWh/year to over 3 million customers thanks to its network of over 132,000 km. Enel Green Power Romania also operates wind and solar parks with a combined capacity of 534 MW in the country, while Enel X is present on the electric mobility market.
In late November 2022, Enel released its 2023-2025 strategy, which aims to reposition businesses and geographies to cut the group's net debt. Over the 2023-2025 period, the group will sell around €21bn of assets (disposal to be rolled out by the end of 2023), to focus on six core countries (Italy, Spain, the United States, Brazil, Chile and Colombia). The group, which completed the sale of its entire stake (99.09%) in its Chilean power transmission subsidiary Enel Transmisión Chile to Sociedad Transmisora Metropolitana (STM) and its parent company Inversiones Grupo Saesa in December 2022, plans to finalise the sale of its distribution grids in Goias (Brazil), to exit from Peru and Argentina and to add some countries (such as Greece or Australia) to its "Stewardship perimeter". Moreover, the group aims to initiate the exit from gas assets, including its gas portfolio in Spain. Those sales should enable to cut Enel's net debt by €21bn.