In CERNOBBIO, Italy, CEO Francesco Starace said on Saturday that Italian power company Enel (BIT:ENEI) has no idea when it will be able to close the sale of its Russian unit. He also said that a potential buyer, Lukoil, had asked for the necessary permissions.
“Lukoil has made the necessary request,” Starace told reporters at a business conference in northern Italy. “We’re waiting for a response.”
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Enel said in June that it had reached a deal with Russia’s Lukoil and the investment fund Gazprombank-Frezia to sell its 56.43% stake in Enel Russia for about 137 million euros, which will be paid at closing.
Russia put Enel’s local subsidiary on a preliminary list of companies that investors from “unfriendly” countries can’t sell this year unless they get special permission from the president.
Moscow later added another requirement, which was that the person who wanted to buy the asset also had to get permission to do so.
