Enel Spa, Italy’s largest utility, will sell its Romanian operations to Greece’s Public Power Corp (PPC) for 1.26 billion euros as part of a debt-cutting strategy and a shift toward cleaner energy. The transaction is valued at 1.9 billion euros, including debt, according to Enel, with a 1.7 billion euro positive effect on the company’s consolidated net debt.

Enel presented a 2023-25 strategic update in November, stating that it planned asset sales worth 21 billion euros and aimed to reduce its debt to 51-52 billion euros by the end of this year. “With the sale of all our activities in Romania, we continue to implement the disposal plan,” CEO Francesco Starace said.

Enel’s deal with PPC is expected to close by the third quarter.

PPC, which called the deal “a transformational event for its growth strategy”, said it intends to fund the acquisition with a 485 million euro 5-year term loan from Greek banks and a 315 million euro bridge facility from international banks.

“This is a unique chance to acquire an integrated utility platform at an attractive valuation, setting PPC on the path to becoming a leading Clean Utility player in the South-East Europe area,” PPC chairman and CEO Georgios Stassis said.

“We are confident that this significant development will drive growth and improve PPC’s competitiveness on both an international and domestic level.”