Edison May Buy Assets of Rivals Amid Credit Crisis

By Anthony DiPaola and Michele Seghizzi

Oct. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Edison SpA, Italy's second-largest utility, may gain from the worldwide financial crisis if indebted rivals have difficulty getting credit and are forced to sell assets, Chief Executive Officer Umberto Quadrino said.

``We have the possibility to benefit from this situation if the opportunity presents itself,'' Quadrino said in an interview in London yesterday. The company's liquidity is ``enviable'' and debt is low at less than 3 billion euros ($4 billion), he said.

Edison is set to meet its profit targets this year after a ``good'' third quarter, Quadrino said. The Milan-based company will have earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of about 1.55 billion euros this year, he said.

Edison increased as much as 7.4 percent and traded at 1.09 euros as of 10:44 a.m. in Milan. The shares are down 50 percent this year.

The utility is seeking to expand abroad to gain more power customers and is looking for natural-gas assets to create its own supply base for its generation plants and clients. The company is participating in two pipeline projects to Italy and completed a liquefied natural gas receiving terminal.

Next year

The facility, which turns the fuel back into gas for shipment to power plants and homes, will take its first cargoes next year and be operating at full capacity by the start of the 2009 winter, Quadrino said. The LNG terminal is moored about 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) from Rovigo, off Italy's Adriatic coast, and has a capacity of 8 billion cubic meters of gas.

Exxon Mobil Corp. and Qatar Petroleum both own 45 percent of the facility, with Edison owning the remainder and having rights to 80 percent of fuel imported.

Quadrino confirmed Edison's 6.2 billion-euro investment plan for the five years through 2013. The company has 1.5 billion euros in committed credit lines and can finance all the exploration and production projects it has under way, he said.

Edison expects to announce soon it was the winner of a bid to develop gas fields in Egypt, Quadrino said. The company is also exploring for gas in Iran.

To contact the reporter on this story: Anthony DiPaola in Rome at adipaola@bloomberg.net; Michele Seghizzi in London at mseghizzi@bloomberg.net.