Italy's Enel plans to sell Romania, Slovakia assets

 Italian electric power giant Enel on Thursday said it was planning to sell assets in Romania and Slovakia in a deal that would raise more than 4.4 billion euros ($6.0 billion).
The activities to be sold would include a 66-percent stake in Slovenske Elektrarne, the leading power generator in Slovakia with revenues of 2.9 billion euros in 2013.
In Romania, the stakes to be sold w ould be in companies managing a power grid of about 91,000 kilometres and with a customer base of around 20 percent of the retail market.
Chief executive Francesco Starace "informed the board that... possible sales by the Enel Group would include its generation assets in Slovakia and its distribution and sales assets in Romania," the company said in a statement.
Enel said the possible sales would be part of a broader 6-billion-euro debt-reduction programme that began last year.
"The Slovakian and Romanian assets, together with other non-strategic assets, will contribute more than the residual target of 4.4 billion euros, giving the programme a necessary degree of flexibility," the statement said.
Enel said it had informed minority shoulders and appointed as financial advisers BNP Paribas and Deutsche Bank for the Slovakian assets and Citigroup and UniCredit for the Romanian assets. It said it would provide government authorities with relevant information in due course.