DEPA Infrastructure

Italy's biggest gas distributor Italgas said on Thursday its core profit rose 19% to 297 million euros in the first quarter, lifted by both a newly acquired Greek business and its energy efficiency services.

Total revenues were up 36% year-on-year to 480 million euros, with sales from Greece accounting for nearly 10% of the total.

Nine groups submitted a letter of interest in the full ownership of DEPA Infrastructure, a new company to be created by the partial division of the Greek public natural gas company's (DEPA) infrastructure section, by the deadline on Friday.

State sell-off fund TAIPED has recorded strong investor interest in the concession of DEPA Infrastructure, the Public Gas Corporation offshoot that includes only the utility's infrastructure and of which 65 percent belongs to the state and 35 percent to Hellenic Petroleum.
The fund expects at least seven to eight bidders in the first stage of the tender.

After DEPA Infrastructure, the company that has undertaken the natural gas transmission network, it is now time for the privatization process of DEPA Commercial to start. Sources say that, by Friday, state privatization fund TAIPED will have published an invitation for expressions of interest in the sale of the state's 65 percent stake in the gas trading company.

The management of the Public Gas Corporation (DEPA) will enlist foreign consultants to help implement its plans to split the company into two - as part of the process of its privatization - reports said Friday.

Energy Minister Giorgos Stathakis on Tuesday announced the start of the privatization process for Public Gas Corporation (DEPA), aiming for its completion in the first quarter of 2019. The company will first be split into two parts, one commercial and the second comprising its infrastructure.