Endesa gets three binding bids

Three of the four teams that were originally interested in buying Spanish utility Endesa’s gas network have submitted binding bids for the asset earlier this week, a source familiar with the sales process said.

Endesa: could fetch over €700m for gas assets

AXA Private Equity, Goldman Sachs and Macquarie are the three bidders in the running to acquire Endesa’s 4,100-kilometre Spanish gas distribution network in a deal that could be worth more than €700 million. Antin Infrastructure, the Paris-based infrastructure fund manager, was said to have been interested in the sale at an earlier stage, but did not submit a binding bid for the asset, the source said. Mediobanca and JP Morgan are said to be running the sale.

Endesa, which is 92 percent-owned by Italian utility Enel, started the sale of its Spanish gas distribution network earlier this year. In addition to the distribution business, which serves over 397,000 customers across Spain, the deal also includes its gas transportation business, spanning over 800 kilometres of pipelines throughout the country.

Endesa’s gas business is said to have generated 2009 earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of about €58.4 million, Reuters reports. Assuming Endesa could get between 10x to 13x EBIDTA, it could sell the assets for between €584 million and €760 million. But another source involved in the deal previously suggested the latter figure was towards the more optimistic end of the assets’ enterprise value.