Italy's competition regulator on Monday issued a conditional green light for Plenitude, the low-carbon business unit of energy group Eni, to acquire certain assets from regional utility ACEA, subject to a set of remedies the authority says must be fully implemented.
Under the agreement announced in December and valued at 587 million euros, Plenitude is slated to acquire 100% of Acea Energia and a 50% stake in Umbria Energy. The regulator concluded that, as structured, the transaction would have a significant effect on competition in two specific markets: the retail sale of gas and electricity in the Rome area, and the market for electric vehicle charging infrastructure in the Umbria region.
To address those concerns, the competition authority set conditions that Plenitude must accept and enact. The remedies spelled out include measures designed to protect retail customers in Rome and the divestiture of some charging stations located in Umbria. The regulator's decision permits the transaction to move forward only after Plenitude adopts the full package of proposed safeguards and disposals.
Eni indicated when the deal was announced in December that the acquisition was expected to close in June. According to Eni's prior statement, the purchase would bring more than 1.4 million retail customers to Plenitude's portfolio in Italy and raise Plenitude's total customer base in Europe to more than 11 million.
The competition authority's conditional approval preserves the ability of the parties to complete the transaction while imposing targeted remedies intended to limit the merger's competitive impact in the identified local markets. The decision leaves in place the requirement that the buyer fully carry out the proposed measures before the transaction is allowed to proceed without restriction.
Contextual note - Plenitude is the low-carbon division of Eni. ACEA is the regional utility whose assets are the subject of the sale. The regulatory conditions focus on markets where the authority found the potential for a material reduction in competition.