Takeover talk swirls around Spanish utilities

The race to buy the Spain’s biggest electricity provider Endesa is heating up with Germany’s E.ON increasing its offer to 37 billion euros. The revised bid of 35 euros a share came a day after Spanish conglomerate Acciona bought a 10% stake in Endesa at 32 euros a share. That makes Acciona one of the biggest single shareholders, but 64% of the stock is held by individuals.

The consolidation of Spain’s energy sector could be continuing with the country’s biggest construction group ACS buying 6.3% of electricity supplier Iberdrola. It is a trend approved of by Spain’s Economy minister Pedro Solbes. He said: “I like world champions, European champions. I also like very powerful national companies, so yes, I support a national champion. In any case, I prefer companies which are not limited to this country, but which can be competitive outside Spain.”

Along those lines, there has been some speculation that ACS plans a three-way merger between utilities Union Fenosa, Gas Natural and Ibedrola. That would create Spain’s top utility with a market value of more than 42 billion euros but ACS said it currently has “made no decision to pursue a merger.”

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