Italian utility giant Enel recently installed its own management team to run the electricity companies Electrica Banat and Dobrogea, sources close to the Italian group told Ziarul Financiar.
Enel has appointed Gianluca Caccialupi as general manger, while Roberta Benedetti will become chief financial officer and Mario Coni commercial manager. The team will run the two regional electricity distributors. Enel signed the privatisation contract for Electrica Banat and Electrica Dobrogea in July of last year, which saw it take over 51% in both companies.
The transaction involved the direct acquisition of 24.62% in each of the two companies, followed later by a capital increase to reach a majority stake. The total transaction was worth 111.8 million euros.
The transaction was only finalised at the end of April, however, when Enel became the new majority shareholder. Enel also undertook to pay some 100 million euros in debts.
The two regional electricity companies now have a total of number of customers close to 1.3 million clients.
Enel officials recently said they would not be reducing their 51% stakes in the two companies and that they were not in talks for a sale of shares to the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Banka??s investment arm, or the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
Under the terms of the privatisation contract, Enel has the option to sell 5-10% of its stakes to institutional investors like the EBRD and IFC after securing the controlling interests.
The head of Enel, Paolo Scaroni, ruled out any such possibility, saying the Italian group was more interested in increasing its stakes, as opposed to reducing them.
Enel has announced an investment plan worth 300 million euros for the next five years. The investment will go to upgrading the infrastructure of the two companies. Total investment over the next 15 years is expected to reach one billion euros.
The IFC, on the other hand, would be able to provide 170 million euros for medium-term investment as well as working capital.
Enel has been operational in Romania since the end of last year, when it established Enel Servicii SRL to provide support to its local operations.