Italian utility Enel is looking for a partner to buy Suez's water business as it considers making an offer for the French utility, sources familiar with the situation said on Tuesday.
Enel's ambitions to buy Suez and its Belgian unit Electrabel stalled a week ago when France announced a 70 billion euro ($83.65 billion) merger between Suez and Gaz de France, sparking political tension between the French and Italian governments.
Now Enel is considering appealing directly to Suez's shareholders through a higher, unsolicited counteroffer, the sources said, but the Italian firm is not interested in keeping Suez's water and waste business.
The unit, whose 73,000 employees help provide about 80 million people with drinking water, could fetch about 15 billion euros including debt, industry analysts say. Enel declined to comment. Enel is looking for a partner that would be as acceptable as possible to the French government, the sources said.
Comments
Comments are closed.