Terna, F2i to bid for stake in Greece’s ADMIE
Italian power grid company Terna and infrastructure fund F2i (Fondi Italiani per le Infrastrutture) will make a joint bid for a minority stake in Greek grid operator ADMIE, two sources familiar with the matter said this week.
Power utility PPC, 51 percent owned by the Greek state, is seeking to sell 24 percent of ADMIE.
On Thursday it said a Terna-F2i consortium had been invited to submit a binding offer for ADMIE along with two other bidders – France’s RTE and State Grid of China.
One of the sources said that it was very likely the bid vehicle would be equally owned by Terna and F2i, though the final terms were yet to be set.
Terna, one of Europe’s biggest power grid players, is looking at business opportunities outside Italy.
The company is controlled by state lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) and counts State Grid of China as one of its largest shareholders.
CDP is also a shareholder in infrastructure fund F2i.
A second source said Terna was waiting to see what final Greek regulation would look like to know its returns.
ADMIE, which operates more than 11,000 kilometers of high-voltage power cables in Greece, had a regulated asset base of 1.37 billion euros last year.
Under the country’s bailout agreement struck last August, PPC must either sell a minority stake in ADMIE or fully privatize the grid by next year.
[Reuters]
