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E.ON chief sees 'encouraging' signs in Endesa takeover
AFP
FRANKFURT
Petroleumworld.com 09 15 06
E.ON, the biggest German power supplier, sees "encouraging signs" that it will be able to take over Spanish electricity supplier Endesa, E.ON chairman Wulf Bernotat said in a magazine interview released on Thursday.
In a pre-release of an interview to be published in the fortnightly magazine Capital, Bernotat admitted that he "had thought the deal would be a little easier".
Nevertheless, he remained "very confident that we will succeed at the end of the day".
Meanwhile, the business weekly WirtschaftsWoche quoted E.ON supervisory board sources as saying that E.ON was willing to forego Endesa's operations in South America in order to secure the takeover of the Spanish firm.
By making such a gesture, E.ON hoped it would be able to persuade the Spanish government to drop its blocking tactics, WirtschaftsWoche said in a report in its latest edition.
Endesa's South American business is very lucrative and has shown the fastest growth rates within the Endesa group.
But "such activities don't fit in with E.ON", the magazine quoted a supervisory board member as saying. And the operations were too far away from E.ON's decision-making centres in Duesseldorf and Munich.
Spanish economy and finance minister Pedro Solbes had said Wednesday that the arrangements for the takover of Endesa by E.ON would be settled by the end of the month.
E.ON announced in February an offer to buy Endesa for 26.9 billion euros (34 billion dollars), but the bid has faced opposition from Madrid which favours a merger of Endesa and the country's biggest gas supplier, Gas Natural.
Gas Natural has also made an offer for Endesa, but its approach has been complicated by competition concerns and court action by Endesa.
AFP 14 1219 GMT 09 06
Copyright ©2006 AFP. All Rights Reserved.
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