T Plus thinking of buying Enel Russia assets - sources

MOSCOW. June 16 (Interfax) - The T Plus generating company is thinking of buying Italy's Enel out of PJSC Enel Russia , two sources with knowledge of talks between the companies told Interfax.

The sources said T Plus asked for a valuation of the Enel Russia assets in the spring, but they did not say how much a potential deal might be worth. One of the sources said without elaborating that it was mentioned during the initial stages of talks that Enel Russia's thermal generating assets were valued at 3x EBITDA but that the renewable energy assets were given a zero valuation due to the cost and difficulty servicing them.

Enel Russia's market cap on the Moscow Exchange was just over 19 billion rubles on June 16, although it reached 28 billion-30 billion rubles prior to the spring. EBITDA came to 7.9 billion rubles in 2021 while the 2022 forecast is 10.5 billion rubles.

T Plus has not yet commented on the information. Enel Russia said it did not comment on the actions of its shareholders, and Enel has not yet responded to questions.

Reuters quoted Enel Chief Executive Francesco Starace on Wednesday as saying the company was close to selling its Russian assets. "A few more weeks and we should be there," Starace said.

T Plus is ready to consider offers to buy assets of energy companies that are leaving the Russian Federation, but it is not conducting any specific negotiations, the company's CEO Andrei Vagner told journalists in May.

Enel Russia currently includes three gas-fired power plants - Konakovskaya GRES, Nevinnomysskaya GRES, and Sredneuralskaya GRES - as well as a commissioned wind farm in the Rostov region. A wind farm in the Murmansk region will be 85% complete in July and 100% in October this year, while a wind power project in the Stavropol Territory has been canceled. The main shareholder of Enel Russia is Italy's Enel S.p.A. with a 56.43% stake.