Verbund gives up the purchase of EDP’s dams
The Austrian company Verbund should not put forward a binding offer for the purchase of the four EDP dams in the Douro.
Austria’s Verbund is no longer interested in buying EDP’s hydroelectric assets after having confirmed in September that it was analysing the dams that EDP put on the market, the company have had weighed the risks and opportunities of the operation, eventually deciding not to proceed with a proposal.
Bloomberg advanced the news. Cited by Jornal de Negócios, the agency recalls that the EDP team led by António Mexia already had a list of five companies interested in the acquisition of these assets and that have sent non-binding proposals to the national electricity company. In this list would be Verbund, but also Iberdrola, Engie and Norwegian Stratkraft, as revealed by ECO.
This is a process being conducted by Morgan Stanley and UBS banks. Other companies that have monitored EDP’s assets are Enel, Macquarie and Brookfield, but it is not certain that they will enter the dam race, located in the Douro.
As ECO revealed, António Mexia intends to fit over six billion euros with the sale of non-strategic assets for the group. In the specific case of the dams, the valuation will be around two billion euros.
