The administrative councils of the Spanish groups ENDESA and IBERDROLA have approved the merger of the two companies that would create one of the five largest electricity groups in the world. This operation will be carried out through a share swap on the basis of 18 ENDESA shares and 25 Pesetas for 23 IBERDROLA shares. This plan will place the new company, named ENDESA IBERDROLA, at the first position for the number of clients and the fourth position for its production capacity with a cumulated turnover of EUR 19.9 billion and a market capitalisation of EUR 36.58 billion. The two partners will nevertheless have to sell assets in order to satisfy the requirements of the competition authorities. The oil company REPSOL YPF had tried to block the project at the start of the week by proposing a merger "among equal" between its subsidiary GAS NATURAL and IBERDROLA.