Chile Court Sides with Enel on Latin America Reorganization
A Chilean court on Tuesday rejected an attempt by local pension funds to block the restructuring plans of Enersis SA, Italian utility Enel SpA's Latin American arm.
Pension funds and Enersis shareholders AFP Habitat and Capital had appealed a decision by the local securities regulator to not treat the restructuring of Enel's Latin American assets as a related party transaction.
A related party transaction would imply greater independent scrutiny and was requested by the influential pension fund shareholders.
The Santiago appeals court said on Tuesday that it rejected Habitat and Capital's petition, which had argued that plans to divide Enersis' assets into two companies - one for Chile and one for the rest of the Latin America - may not be in the best interest of all existing shareholders.
Enel, which has a controlling stake of just over 60 percent in Santiago-based Enersis, is reshaping itself to focus on Latin America.
As well as putting its own managers in place, it wants to create a simplified structure for Enersis and its related subsidiaries, Endesa Chile and Chilectra.
(Reporting by Erik Lopez; Writing by Gram Slattery)
