OREANDA-NEWS. Ascopiave S.p.A. and Eni S.p.A. have signed a Letter of Intent in which they have identified the principles of a partnership for the joint development of gas and electricity sales activities for residential and small and medium-sized enterprise customers. The area of interest will be the Triveneto region (northern Italy) with the option to include other areas.

The companies will share their experience, so the partnership will be able to improve the quality of the products and customer service, thereby increasing competitive capacity and achieving high levels of management efficiency.

The Ascopiave Group, a division of parent company Ascopiave S.p.A., is active in the distribution and sales of natural gas to end customers. It is the main supplier in northeast Italy.

Its natural gas sales are managed through various companies. Some are subsidiary companies (controlled via majority shareholding) and some are associated companies (controlled with 49% and 51% shareholding) over which the Group has joint control with other partners.

In total, the subsidiary and its associated companies supply about 850,000 end customers.

The Letter of intent outlines the programme Ascopiave and Eni will enter together with the aim of perfecting the project, including the establishment of one or more special purpose entities, into which the parties’ respective shares in sales companies in northeast Italy and other marketing assets can be merged.

The full scope of the project is scheduled to be outlined during the second half of 2013.