Italy's Enel sells 50% of its grid services unit to CVC

MILAN (Reuters) - Italy's biggest utility, Enel SpA, said on Thursday it reached a deal to sell 50% of its grid service unit Gridspertise to private equity firm CVC for about 300 million euros ($293.37 million).

The deal values the whole division at 625 million euros, a value that could increase to 1 billion euros when including potential deferred payments, Enel said.

The transaction, is part of Enel's broader strategy aimed at attracting investments from partners to jointly develop businesses in the areas of renewable energy, electrification or services.

The announcement confirms a Reuters story last week quoting two sources with knowledge of the matter.

Gridspertise, which was set up last year, offers digital grid services to power distributors in Italy and abroad.

The unit manages activities related to digital meters and intelligent grid services to help customers deal with the increasing amounts of power generated from intermittent renewable energy sources.

The deal is expected to close by the end of 2022 and following the transaction, Enel and CVC will jointly control Gridspertise, the utility said.

Rothschild acted as financial adviser for CVC.

($1 = 1.0226 euros)

(Reporting by Elvira Pollina and Francesca Landini in Milan; Editing by Matthew Lewis)