MADRID-- Endesa said Wednesday that its parent company, Enel
SpA, plans to float an additional stake of between 17% and 22% in
the Spanish power utility on the Madrid stock market.
The share sale should begin on Nov. 7, Endesa said in a
regulatory filing. Enel, Italy's largest electricity company,
currently owns 92% of Endesa with the rest of the shares traded in
Madrid.
Floating more of Endesa, one of Spain's biggest electricity
firms, would increase the stock's limited liquidity and enhance the
value of the company, Enel said.
"This is an important milestone, in that we are now delivering
on the undertaking we gave to the market in the summer to unlock
value within the group and to increase our focus on the new energy
market framework that emerged in Iberia," Enel Chief Executive
Francesco Starace said.
The shares will be offered to Spanish retail investors as well
as international and Spanish institutional investors.
The announcement of the share sale comes just days after Enel
took over Endesa's Latin American unit and Endesa distributed an
unusually large EUR14.6 billion ($18.2 billion) dividend that went
mostly into Enel's coffers. The move was widely criticized by
Spanish politicians.
Enel took over Endesa in 2007 after a multiyear bidding battle
with Germany's E.ON AG and just before Spain plunged into a deep
economic slump. Spain's then-Socialist government came under fire
for allowing state-controlled Enel to acquire Endesa, which had
been privatized just a few years before.
In July, when it announced plans to take over Endesa's Latin
American business, Enel said it wanted to simplify its corporate
structure and align it with the company's objectives. To that end,
Enel said it would design a new business strategy for Endesa,
looking to take advantage of the Iberian Peninsula's improving
economy.
Banco Santander SA, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA, Credit
Suisse Group AG and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. are joint global
coordinators on the deal, while Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan
Stanley and UBS AG are joint bookrunners. Mediobanca SpA is
advising Enel.
Eric Sylvers contributed to this article.
Write to David Román at david.roman@wsj.com and Ana García at
ana.garcia@wsj.com
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