ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece’s biggest gas company DEPA said on Wednesday it had agreed to sell its holding in a local gas supplier to Italy’s Eni (ENI.MI) for 57 million euros ($67 million).
Under the agreement, state-controlled DEPA will sell its 51 percent stake in Thessaloniki-Thessaly Gas. Eni already holds a 49 percent stake in that company.
Under a bailout-sanctioned scheme to unbundle gas supply from distribution and boost competition in the industry, Greece needs to eliminate potential conflicts of interest between DEPA and domestic gas suppliers.
DEPA will stay in the broader Athens region but will pull out of the rest of Greece.
DEPA is also in talks to buy out Shell’s (RDSa.L) 49 percent stake in another gas supplier, Attiki Gas Supply Company, and a gas distributor in Athens and become the sole stakeholder in the two companies, sources close to the matter told Reuters.
One of the sources said the deal could be worth about 150 million euros.
DEPA, 65 percent owned by the Greek state, imports gas mainly from Russia and supplies power producers, big industries and households across Greece.
It has teamed up with foreign firms on the construction of gas interconnectors with Bulgaria and Italy.
Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou; Editing by Karolina Tagaris and Mark Potter
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