Fulvio Conti, the chief executive of Enel, was in a relaxed and genial mood when he met the Financial Times recently; as might be expected for a man who has just done the deal of his career. As 2007 began, Enel seemed a fading national champion, reliant on a domestic market where it faced the steady erosion of its position under the challenge of its smaller and more dynamic rival, Edison, backed by EDF of France. Its efforts to break out of that trap, such as its overture to the Franco-Belgian utility Suez, had been rebuffed. While the European energy industry was restructuring under pressure from a new push from the European Union to liberalise markets and strengthen competition, Enel seemed to have been left behind.
By his dramatic intervention in the long-running takeover battle for Endesa, Spain’s biggest electricity company, Mr Conti changed all that. The deal leaves several questions unanswered, particularly over the future of the complex structure that Enel has used to put a “Spanish face” on its bid, through its partnership with Acciona, the Spanish construction company. But it has made the point that Enel has a role to play in reshaping Europe’s energy industry, in the most dramatic way possible.
