Enel says no change to Weather Investments stake

MILAN: Italian power company Enel said on Friday it is not in talks to end its 26 percent stake in Weather Investments, in response to a newspaper report that it could sell the holding. Enel said its stake in Weather, which controls Wind, Italy s number-two mobile phone operator, remained unchanged. Enel also said it had not received any proposal to float Wind. Specifically, Enel s stake in Weather is restricted by a series of lock-up undertakings to permit Weather to proceed with its plan to become a listed company when market conditions are favorable, it said. Enel said it was responding to reports in Il Sole 24 Ore newspaper that Egyptian businessman Naguib Sawiris, who controls Weather, had offered to buy its Weather stake and that he might list Wind. Sawiris said in May that he planned to list Weather in Milan by the end of the year at the earliest. Il Sole reported on Thursday that Enel s Weather stake is valued at 2 billion euros ($2.5 billion) to 2.3 billion euros.