Brussels, 24/03/2006 (Agence Europe) - While the president of Enel, Piero Gnudi, was presenting his company's financial results in London, his opposite number from Suez, Gérard Mestrallet, was pressing him to clarify his intentions regarding the French group. Enel, which is provisionally out of the race for acquiring Suez, does not yet seem willing to make a counter-bid on Suez, whose announced marriage with Gaz de France is the focus of European Commission attention.
Speaking to the press on Thursday, Piero Gnudi denied that the Enel management board, which was meeting on Wednesday, was divided over the matter (EUROPE 9157). “This is a complex and complicated operation” and “there is no disagreement but rather requests for clarification”, he said. Enel seems to have the financial means to meet its ambitions and has stated it is ready to make a bid at any moment, but doubt is still in the air. This waiting situation is beginning to irritate Suez. On Thursday, Mr Mestrallet called on the Autorité des marchés financiers en France (AMF) to approach Enel to make the Italian electricity company shed some light on the matter. In this letter, as reported by Reuters, Suez calls on AMF to silence the rumours that have lasted several weeks and which are likely to mislead the public. Mr Mestrallet calls on AMF to ask Enel to make its intentions clearly known regarding a possible bid on Suez. The polemic fired over this merger has not spilled over into the political side, where both parties are sticking to their positions. During the European Council in Brussels, Italian Council President Silvio Berlusconi thus avoided bringing the matter up with the President of France, Jacques Chirac.