Eni sells Plenitude stake to Ares for $13 billion

Eni, an Italian energy company, has announced that it is in exclusive negotiations with Ares Alternative Credit Management to sell a 20% stake of its retail and renewable arm Plenitude.

Eni stated that the negotiations are based on a Plenitude equity value between 9.8 billion and 10.2 billion euro, which is equivalent to more than 12 billion dollars ($13.4 billion) including debt.

Eni's "Enterprise" is the name of its so-called

'satellite' strategy

The aim of this project is to create specialised units that are dedicated to low-carbon business or upstream projects, and to attract financial partners to invest.

The Italian group stated that "the agreement is the result of a rigorous selection process that involved several international players who showed a strong interest in the business model, and confirmed the appeal of the company's growth prospects."

Mediobanca acts as Eni's financial advisor, while UniCredit & Deutsche Bank advise Ares Alternative Credit Management.

Eni's satellite strategy has already enabled the capital of Plenitude, Eni to be opened.

Switzerland's Energy Infrastructure

Partners (EIP), in two transactions, brought the asset manager a 10% stake of the unit.

In the latest deal, completed in March, EIP valued Plenitude, including debt, at more than 10 billion euro.

This year, the U.S.

investment fund KKR

Eni received a total of 3.6 billion euro in proceeds from the sale of 30% of its biofuels unit Enilive. (1 dollar = 0.8939 euro) (Reporting and editing by Francesca Landini; Louise Heavens, Giulia Segriti)

(source: Reuters)