The parent company of the Spanish energy company wants to reduce its debt by 21,000 million and foresees green investments of 37,000 million until 2025
Endesa is closing its gas business in Spain, its parent company, Italy’s Enel, has announced, where they will launch an asset sale plan worth €21,000 million. Not only does it mean getting rid of the gas business in Spain, which was heavily impacted by the rise in this commodity and the regulatory decisions to deal with the recovery, but it will also leave other markets such as Peru, Argentina or Romania.
Enel’s goal – it owns 70% of Endesa’s capital – is to significantly reduce a debt of more than 70,000 million euros. As the group announced on the occasion of its Capital Markets Day, it will therefore focus on six strategic countries: Italy, Spain, the United States, Brazil, Chile and Colombia. The Italian group expects most of this divestment plan to be completed by the end of 2023, focusing on those six markets.
Last year, Endesa already announced a shift in its strategy to end all gas operations before 2040, as part of its path to total decarbonization and the goal of being zero emissions. Now, in its new intention for the period 2023-2025, the Italian company hopes that “the value of the gas portfolio in Spain will crystallize”.
Endesa’s business natural gas customer base was 1.8 million at the end of September, of which 1.5 million on the open market. In recent weeks, a large number of customers have requested their switch to the regulated tariff (TUR), limited by the government in the face of market increases, where gas has quadrupled its price over the past year.
In concrete terms, the energy company in Europe will concentrate its activities in Italy and Spain. In Latin America, the company is leaving Peru and Argentina. In addition, it plans to develop its business model to catalyze investments in associations (stewardship) in other geographies, such as Australia and Greece.
Similarly, for the period 2023 and 2025, the group will invest approximately EUR 37,000 million, 60% of which will support its integrated commercial strategy (generation, customers and services), and the remaining 40% will be allocated to networks to support its role as facilitators of the energy transition.
Enel indicated that its goal is to “focus on the integrated value chain, seeking sustainable electrification, which is increasingly necessary in global energy systems, with approximately 90% of fixed price sales covered by carbon-free electricity by 2025 , bringing renewable generation to about 75% of the total and reaching about 80% of the customers of the digitized network”.
In terms of its renewable energy commitment, Enel expects to add about 21 gigawatts (GW) of installed “green” capacity, of which about 19 GW will be in key countries.
The group plans to develop this renewable capacity, supported by a portfolio of approximately 425 GW. This decarbonisation strategy allows the company to reaffirm its commitment to zero emissions by 2040.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
