Spain electric grid shares fall after Bolivian takeover

Shares in Spanish electricity transmission group Red Electrica fell on the Madrid share market on Wednesday after Bolivia nationalised the company's operations in the country. Stock in the group's holding company Red Electrica Corp. fell 1.63 percent to 32.355 euros in early trading, one of only a few declining companies on a generally higher IBEX-35 index. Bolivian President Evo Morales ordered the military to seize the firm's assets on May Day in a new blow to Madrid just 15 days after Argentina took over a subsidiary of Spain's oil giant Repsol. Morales said he had issued a decree nationalising Transportadora de Electricidad SA and taking control of 99.94 percent of the Red Electrica subsidiary. The Bolvian offshoot owns and runs almost three-quarters of the South American nation's electric power lines. In 2005 the firm said its assets amounted to $225 million (170 million euros).