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Italian energy major Eni said it was in exclusive talks to sell 20 per cent of Plenitude, its renewable power and electric vehicle charging business, to Ares Management in a deal that would give the unit an enterprise value of more than €12bn.
While other oil majors have been pulling back from low-carbon investment, the potential deal highlights Eni’s ability to extract value by bundling together its green investments together with cash generative assets and then selling stakes to private equity firms.
Plenitude plans to spend €1.2bn a year over the next five years to build new solar, wind and battery storage plants, as well as its electric vehicle charging network. It made earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of €1.1bn in 2024, a 3 per cent year-on-year increase, because of its millions of gas and power retail customers.
Energy Infrastructure Partners, the Swiss investment company, earlier this year completed a deal to buy 10 per cent of Plenitude at an enterprise value of more than €10bn. Eni also sold 30 per cent of its biofuels and fuel retailing business Enilive to KKR at a post-money equity valuation of €11.75bn.
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At the time of the EIP deal, Eni’s chief financial officer Francesco Gattei said the strategy showed that Eni could pursue green businesses that “attract leading investors, grow organically and become self-sustaining” and that this was the right approach to the energy transition.
Kim Fustier, an analyst at HSBC, wrote in a note earlier this year that the Italian company’s consistent approach to its energy transition businesses “was somewhat remarkable in a year when many of Eni’s peers, notably BP, Equinor and Shell, scaled back their ambitions and investments in low carbon”.
The potential investment by Ares Management, a US investment firm, is at a slightly higher valuation than analysts expected, and Eni said “several prominent international players” had expressed a strong interest.
