In a statement E.ON said it will not execute its takeover bid for a majority stake in Endesa, will not acquire the shares tendered on the basis of an acceptance level of less than 50%, and will renounce making a new takeover offer for Endesa in the next four years.
The announcement follows a deal with Enel and Acciona that, in Spain, will see E.ON acquire the Viesgo utility, which has an installed generation capacity of some 2,400 MW, from Enel. E.ON will also receive additional generation capacity from Endesa, bringing the company’s total Spanish capacity to some 6.4 GW by 2010.
In Italy, E.ON will acquire E.ON Endesa Italia, with about 5,000 MW of capacity while in France E.ON will acquire Endesa France/SNET, which has a capacity of some 2,500 MW.
E.ON had previously asked the Spanish National High Court or Audiencia Nacional to block the Enel/Acciona takeover bid for Endesa on the grounds that it is illegal and started legal proceedings against Acciona and Enel. This followed another increase in its offer price to €40.00 per share, which was again unanimously supported by the Endesa board. E.ON also secured 9.9% of Endesa’s equity from the Caja Madrid bank.
However, an Enel and Acciona agreement to implement a joint management project for Endesa, dependent upon E.ON not acquiring more than 50% of Endesa’s capital, proved too strong at a price not lower than €41 per share.
E.ON’s chief executive, Wulf Bernotat said: “Acciona’s and Enel’s involvement in Endesa has made our original goal of acquiring a majority stake in Endesa impossible.”
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