UPDATE: EDF Seeking Alternative Ways To Secure Edison Control

Electricite de France SA (EDF.FR) late Wednesday said it is seeking alternative ways to "secure" the future of Italian utility Edison SpA (EDN.MI) after Italy's market watchdog Consob said the price offered by the French power giant for a planned bid for additional shares in Edison was too low.

The obligation for EDF to proceed to the shareholding reorganization is conditional upon the confirmation by Consob of a price of EUR0.84 per ordinary share, the French utility noted in a statement.

Yet, "this condition hasn't been satisfied by Consob's communication," EDF said, adding it will now look at steps to be taken "without further delay to secure Edison's future."

No one at EDF was immediately available to elaborate on what possible options EDF was studying.

The option to increase the price would be very bearable for EDF, Citigroup's analyst Sofia Savvantidou noted.

"We view the increase in bid price as modest and likely tolerable for EDF as it would impact the group cash out by only about EUR50 million," she said.

In the mean time, any delay will increase uncertainty over the Edison and A2A restructuring and effect EDF's share price.

At 0845 GMT, shares in EDF were trading down 2.6% to EUR16.78 while the CAC-40 benchmark index was down 0.3%.

Consob said Wednesday that the EUR0.84-per-share price offered by EDF to raise its stake in Edison is only representative of one part of a more-complex operation and that a fairer price would be in a range of between EUR0.84 and EUR0.95.

The price-range average would be a "useful point of reference to express a balance between the interests of the two parties," Consob said.

In December, the companies involved in the deal said the EUR0.84 price offered by the French company had been agreed between EDF and the Italian investors and was in line with the average stock market price over the past 12 months.

That statement, which came in response to the request by Consob for clarification on several aspects of the agreement, said EDF would pay some EUR700 million to increase its holding in Edison to nearly 81%.

EDF currently holds 50% of Edison, through direct and indirect stakes and the deal will allow it to hold as much as 80.7% of Edison's capital equity, while the Italian shareholders will take over Edipower, Edison's power generation unit.

- By Geraldine Amiel, Dow Jones Newswires; +33 1 40171767; geraldine.amiel@dowjones.com (Enza Tedesco contributed to this report.)

A2A (BIT:A2A)
Historical Stock Chart
From Oct 2024 to Nov 2024