Italy will sell post group but dithers on Enel Privatisation
The Italian government yesterday made clear it would press ahead with the privatisation of Poste Italiane, the state-run postal services and banking group, but sent conflicting signals over whether it might sell another stake in Enel, the utility giant.
Silvio Berlusconi, prime minister, told reporters that privatisations were essential to cut Italy’s public debt, which stands at 106 per cent of gross domestic product.
“Debt reduction could happen with a certain immediacy, by putting some assets on the market that are part of the state’s patrimony,” he said.
Although Mr Berlusconi suggested that Enel as well as Poste Italiane could form part of a new privatisation drive, Domenico Siniscalco, finance minister, later told Italian radio that he knew of no plans to reduce the government’s 31.5 per cent stake in the utility group.
However, Mr Siniscalco confirmed the government’s intention of selling part of Poste Italiane, which on Tuesday published results for 2004 that showed an increase in net profit to Euros 236m (Dollars 312m) from Euros 90.3m in 2003.
Poste Italiane is estimated to be worth about Euros 7bn and owes much of its strong performance to BancoPosta, its banking business, which has boomed in the past three years and now boasts 4.2m current accounts, making it one of Italy’s largest retail banks.
Electricite de France yesterday took a significant step towards breaking the deadlock over its investment in Edison, Italy’s second-largest power producer, as it reached agreement with Italian utility Enel to study a number of common power projects, writes Peggy Hollinger in Paris.
Pierre Gadonneix, EDF chairman, and Paolo Scaroni, his Enel counterpart, yesterday met in Rome to discuss proposals to help the Italian utility’s entry into the French market. The Italian government has made it clear that it will not lift the 2 per cent cap on EDF’s voting rights in Edison unless Enel has equal access to the French power market.
The companies said their meeting had been “encouraging”. Mr Gadonneix and Mr Scaroni had agreed “an agenda to study projects of common interest in France and in the rest of Europe, notably in the nuclear sector,” the companies said in a joint statement.
It is understood that Enel is likely to become a partner in EDF’s newest nuclear project, the European pressurised water reactor, due to start in 2007. The project is expected to cost Euros 3bn and EDF has been looking for partners to share the financial burden.
