wind energy auction : spanish interest builds

Be Afraid Shorters - Be Very Afraid!

Gas Natural to bid for Babcock assets (Gas Natural puja por Babcock para lanzarse al negico electrico europeo)
Expansion Jul 09 2008 01:00 BST

Gas Natural, Spain's leading gas supplier,is one of a number of companies to have joined the race to acquire the wind energy generation assets of Australian fund Babcock & Brown.The sale of these assets,part of a broader sale of the fund's assets in Europe that began earlier this year,is the largest auction of renewable assets seen in Europe to date. In total, some 3,300MW of generation capacity will go under the hammer. At market prices, these assets are worth between 3.5bn and 4bn euros, according to analysts.

Gas Natural, which has refused to comment on its sale of these assets by Babcock &Brown,has2.53percentofSpain's wind energy market. Many of the assets being sold by Babcock &Brown are in Spain,where the Australian fund has a market share of 2.78 per cent. If the assets of the two players are put together, Gas Natural would become one of the four largest wind energy producers in Spain. Other Spanish companies participating in the auction include electricity supplier Union Fenosa and Med Wind.

Original article by M. A. Patino

Abstracted from Expansion

http://markets.ft.com/tearsheets/newsArticle.asp?docId=709-65421163-5OU2E481GKAR1GSV1AOPG8O6IU&symbol=au:BNB&otherpage=0&view=other