French energy giant GDF Suez pulls out of Gas Natural Fenosa

Barcelona (ACN).- The company GDF Suez, which is partially owned by the French State, announced this Friday the selling of all its shares within Gas Natural Fenosa, which has its headquarters in Barcelona. GDF Suez now owns 5.01% of the Catalan energy company, far from the 11% it owned in the past, when the French giant considered its investment in the Catalan company as strategic. Now its share in the Catalan company is only a financial asset that they have decided to put onto the market. The Spanish Authority for Stock Markets (CNMV) decided to temporarily postpone the trading of Gas Natural Fenosa’s stocks until this morning, when they opened with a 3.2% drop

GDF Suez owns 5.01% of Gas Natural Fenosa, which represents some 46,176,000 stocks, worth some 540-560 million euros, depending on the trading. Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, the companies that are scheduled to execute the sales operation, made the announcement. GDF Suez’s share within Gas Natural Fenosa was instrumented through Genfina S.A., a company owned 100% by GDF Suez.