(Telestock) – Enithe Italian energy giant, has signed a temporary exclusivity agreement with KKRa US private equity firm, for the implementation of the due diligence phase and the completion of the drafting of the documentation for the sale of a shareholding in Enilive between 20% and 25%based on a valuation of the company between 11.5 and 12.5 billion euros.
The parties are determined in the negotiation of terms of a potential transaction, the closing of which will depend on reaching an agreement on definitive documentation, it said in a statement.
Enilive is the Eni company dedicated to biorefiningto the production of biomethaneto the solutions of smart mobilityincluding Enjoy car sharing, and the marketing and distribution of all energy vectors for mobility.
Enilive aims to provide progressively decarbonised services and products for the energy transition, contributing to Eni’s objective of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 also through industrial assets which include the biorefineries in Venice and Gela, the St. Bernard Renewables LLC biorefinery (a 50% joint venture) in Louisiana (USA), 22 biogas plants in Italy, in addition to new projects: in January 2024 Eni confirmed the transformation of the Livorno refinery into a biorefinery. In addition, two new biorefineries are being evaluated in Malaysia and South Korea. Enilive plans to increase its biorefining capacity to over 3 million tonnes by 2026 (double compared to the end of 2023) and over 5 million tonnes/year by 2030.
The step announced today represents a new example of the satellite model strategy development of Eni, aimed at attracting strategic capital from valued partners on the basis of attractive multiples, financing its growth and confirming the value that the company is creating in its new businesses.
“The strong interest shown in this period by primary institutional financial investors could lead to the subsequent transfer of a further share up to 10% of Enilive”, it is underlined.
Last March fullness (formerly Eni gas e luce) has completed the transaction, announced in December 2023, relating to the entry into its shareholding of Energy Infrastructure Partners (EIP) through a capital increase of €588 million. The amount was equal to a share of approximately 7.6% of Plenitude based on an Equity Value – post capital increase – of approximately €8 billion and an Enterprise Value of over €10 billion.