Franco-Belgian utility Suez's (SZE.FR) Chairman and Chief Executive Gerard Mestrallet said Friday the company expects to unveil the winner of a three-company shortlist to buy its stake in Belgium's Distrigas (DIST.BT) ahead of the extraordinary general assembly it will hold to rubber stamp its planned merger with Gaz de France (1020848.FR).
Mestrallet also confirmed that he expects the merger to be concluded on time, so by the end of the first half of 2008. The company hasn't yet fixed a precise date for the special general assembly.
The three companies on the shortlist to buy Distrigas are power giants Electricite de France SA (1024251.FR) and E.ON AG (EOA.XE) of Germany, and Italian oil and gas company Eni SpA (ENI.MI). Suez has a 57.25% stake in Distrigas.
The closing of the deal will take place "just after the merger," Mestrallet told reporters at a press breakfast in Paris.
In exchange for Distrigas, Suez wants "assets, either in electricity or in gas, in Europe," Mestrallet insisted, adding the company doesn't have a geographical preference.