Austria's Verbund has offered to sell its stake in troubled Italian energy group Sorgenia as part of a debt restructuring plan with creditor banks, a spokeswoman for the state-owned utility said on Monday. "It's about sharing the burden... We are waiting for offers," the spokeswoman told Reuters. Loss-making Sorgenia, 52 percent controlled by Italian holding company CIR, has run up 1.8 billion euros ($2.5 billion) of debt - 600 million euros of which must be cleared to keep it afloat in the short term. It owes money to about 20 Italian and foreign banks that have proposed a deal to convert 400 million euros worth of debt into equity. Another 200 million euros would be refinanced through a mandatory convertible bond the banks would buy. Verbund, which holds 46 percent of Sorgenia, wrote a letter to the banks recently offering its 46 percent stake by way of contribution to the debt restructuring, the spokeswoman said. The stake could be "sold" to the banks, to CIR or a third party," she said. Verbund, which has already written off the value of its stake, has said on several occasions it is not prepared to invest any more cash in the venture. Read more.
