E.ON Approves €11.8bn Package for European Plants

Europe's power giant E.ON AG is to pay €11.8bn for power plants in Spain, France and Italy.

The assets are valued at €8.9bn, while E.ON will take on debt of €2.9bn, it says.

E.ON's Board has given go-ahead for the 'substantial package' of power stations and other shareholdings following an agreement with the Italian energy company Enel and Spanish conglomerate Acciona last April.

"With this transaction we are considerably expanding our position in Spain, where we are already strong in the wind power market, and Italy.

"Furthermore, it gives us a good position on the very interesting French power generation market," says E.ON CEO Wulf H Bernotat.

E.ON intends expand its Spanish portfolio with the acquisition of power supplier Viesgo from Enel and other Spanish generating capacities from Endesa totalling approximately 3GW.

In Italy, E.ON will be able to buy an 80% stake in Endesa Italia with 7.2GW of power-generating capacity making E.ON the fourth-largest power generator in the country.

By Ozge Ibrahim