Italy's Enel, France's EDF resume talks on cooperation

0 Comments | AFP, March, 2004

ROME (AFP) — Italian and French state-owned electricity companies Enel and Electricite de France (EDF) have resumed talks on a possible cooperation deal, Enel said.

Enel chief Paolo Scaroni and EDF chairman Francois Roussely met Saturday in Paris for talks aimed at sealing on May 20 a "memorandum of understanding" on cooperation between the two giant utilities.

Among the subjects set to be looked at by the companies is the ceiling imposed by the Italian state on EDF's voting rights in electricity and gas group Edison, Enel's principal rival in Italy.

Currently, EDF's voting rights in Edison are limited to only two percent owing to a decision made by Italy's last centre-left government, which wanted to hold back the French company's advance into Italy....