CASSA DEPOSITI E PRESTITI/TRASMISSIONE ELETTRICITÀ RETE NAZIONALE-GESTORE DELLA RETE DI TRASMISSIONE NAZIONALE
PRESS RELEASE
PRESS RELEASE
ENERGY: ANTITRUST OPENS INQUIRY INTO THE CASSA DEPOSITI E PRESTITI-TERNA OPERATION
The Italian Competition Authority, at its meeting of 22 June 2005, decided to open an investigation into the companies Cassa depositi e prestiti S.p.A. (CDP), T.E.R.N.A. - Trasmissione Elettricità Rete Nazionale S.p.A. (TERNA) and Gestore della Rete di Trasmissione Nazionale S.p.A. (GRTN), for their part in operations which may restrict competition in the market for the transmission and distribution of electric power.
The possibly anti-competitive operations to be examined are the purchase by CDP: a) of 29,99% of the share capital of TERNA, presently held by Enel S.p.A. (ENEL); and b) of the electricity transmission and distribution division of GRTN, set up by Article 1 Paragraph 1 of the DPCM of 11 May 2004, which is made up of the relevant business activities, functions, assets, and contracts with suppliers and clients. The purchases described are part of the process of unification of the ownership and management of the national electricity grid (RTN) with a view to the subsequent privatisation of the resulting entity.
The announced aggregations involve in the first place the business of electricity transmission and distribution, presently carried on under concession by GRTN, as well as the downstream markets of wholesale electricity supply (MI) and distribution services (MSD). In evaluating the competitive effects of the announced operations, the Authority took into account the fact that CDP, after these operations, will at the same time be the controlling shareholder of TERNA (which will also manage RTN), with a stake of 29.99%, and a shareholder of ENEL, by way of a holding of 10.2%. So CDP could be tempted to manage its control of TERNA as a function of the effects its decisions might have on the profitability of ENEL. Finally, the replacement of GRTN by CDP, being the purchaser of a controlling interest in TERNA, in the monopoly business of transmission and distribution of electric power would create, in the Authority’s view, a dominant position in that business for an entity which is not altogether far removed from the interests of the incumbent operator in the electricity markets. Consequently, the announced operations would seem likely to produce significantly restrictive effects in the important MI and MSD markets.
The proceedings will be completed within 45 days.
Rome, 1 July 2005