Enel could ditch green IPO in favour of partnership deal

Plans for one of the world's largest green IPOs could yet be shelved, after it emerged that Italian energy giant Enel is considering alternative options for its renewables division.

Two sources close to the company told Reuters news agency yesterday that Enel's chief executive Fulvio Conti was in talks with potential partners who could take some form of stake in its Enel Green Power (EGP) division.

Enel has been planning a €4bn (£3.4bn) IPO for EGP, which operates solar and other renewable energy projects across Italy and Spain, boasting 5.7GW of capacity. However, the timeline for the IPO has slipped from the original plans for a July listing with Conti confirming recently that he expects the unit to float in October.

A source told Reuters that the IPO could now be abandoned altogether if the right partner is identified.

"For Enel, it would be better to find a couple of industrial and financial partners who would give (the CEO) greater flexibility in managing the company than a broader public," the source said. "So more time is needed while they wait to push the talks ahead."

A separate source confirmed that it was not a given that the company would look to pull off an IPO in the event of it finding partners.

Any partnership deal would have to go some way towards tackling Enel's debt mountain, which is expected to reach €45bn by the end of the year.