BRIEFS. business

Sale not expected to have local impact

The National Authority of Public Services reported that it is closely following the sale of assets owned by Spanish company Unión Fenosa to another company in that country.

That entity, Natural Gas Company, is purchasing Unión Fenosa's assets for $25 billion. The deal is expected to be completed in February.

According to Spanish media, Natural Gas is not interested in maintaining operations in Panama, Nicaragua and Guatemala.

Public Services Administrator Víctor Urrutia has made preliminary investigations to verify whether the change would impact electric companies Edemet and Edechi, two companies in Panama in which Unión Fenosa is the majority shareholder.

“Everything seems to be viable,” the administrator said. “Apparently there is no conflict.”

However, he said that Unión Fenosa, which owns 51 percent of the shares of Edemet and Edechi, has not notified the authority about the transaction. Edemet and Edechi have 410,000 customers in Panama.

Además en Herald

• Bus bids delayed
• Banana crisis continues
• Officials to mail 1,706 ballots abroad
• Murcia’s associate to turn himself in
• Group to present research to candidates
• Sale not expected to have local impact
• Atalaya tensions subside
• Carnival plans still up in the air
• Cheaper gas increases fuel sales