Italy's Enel S.p.A. has reached an agreement with ContourGlobal LP for the sale of the entire share capital of the Netherlands-registered companies Maritza East III Power Holding BV and Maritza O&M Holding Netherland BV, which own, respectively, 73% of the share capital of the Bulgarian company Maritza East 3 AD.

The latter is the owner of a lignite-fired power station with an installed capacity of 908 MW and 73% of the share capital of the Bulgarian company Enel Operations Bulgaria AD, which is responsible for operating and maintaining the Maritza plant.

Located in the south-east of Bulgaria, Maritza accounts for about 10% of the country's total installed capacity. In 2010 it posted revenues of about 231 million euros and EBIT of about 69 million euros.

ContourGlobal will pay Enel a total of 230 million euros for the companies. The enterprise value at closing for 100% of the share capital of the companies involved in the disposal is an estimated 535 million euros, corresponding to 0.59 million euros per MW.

The transaction is part of the disposal plan announced by Enel to the markets and will reduce Enel's total consolidated financial debt by about 450 million euros, as estimated at closing.

The transaction is expected to close by July 2011 and is subject to obtaining the necessary authorisations from the relevant authorities.