TAQA Resumes Stake Negotiations with Naturgy's Top Shareholder
(Reuters) - Abu Dhabi's TAQA has approached Naturgy Energy Group's largest shareholder, CriteriaCaixa, to revive an offer for a stake in the Spanish utility, Bloomberg News reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter.
UAE Minister of Investment Mohamed Hassan Alsuwaidi, also the chairman of TAQA, traveled to Spain to meet with a CriteriaCaixa executive to discuss a potential deal, Bloomberg News said.
Criteria is open to talks as long as the energy and water company does not seek a majority stake and there are no diplomatic issues with Algeria, where Naturgy has significant operations, the report added.
Criteria, which is the main shareholder in lender Caixabank, owns a 26.7% stake in Naturgy, according to data compiled by LSEG.
Naturgy and Criteria declined to comment, while TAQA did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for a comment.
Last year, TAQA was eyeing Criteria's 26.7% stake for a possible partnership agreement but failed to reach a deal.
Early last year, Algeria said it would stop gas deliveries to Naturgy should the Spanish company choose to sell its shares to another entity.
(Reporting by Rajveer Singh Pardesi in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Jesús Aguado and Pietro Lombardi in Madrid; Editing by Vijay Kishore)
