Italian Minister: No Plans to Merge Snam and Terna

Italian Minister for Industry Corrado Passera has again refuted rumours that gas pipeline operator Snam is to join forces with electricity company Terna to avoid a takeover from foreign buyers.

"There exists no hypothesis of a merger with Terna," the minister said yesterday in Rome.

Rumours of a possible merging of Terna and Snam have persisted since the government first announced that Snam would separate completely from national gas company Eni, due to European directives on the need for competitivity in the energy sector.

Eni, of which Snam is currently a subsidiary, holds a 52 per cent stake in that company. Eni is a state-controlled company as is electricity grid Terna.

The statement from Minister Passera yesterday reaffirms a statement made in March that the government did not wish for Terna to be involved with Snam in any way and would keep the two separate.

"Terna is a successful case of a company that is making an important contribution to the development of another market, which is electricity," he said at that time. "We never considered connecting these two areas."

Eni and Snam are due to be completely separated by spring of next year.