European infrastructure fund Marguerite II agreed to acquire a 48.15% interest in the Sardinian businesses of Italgas SpA through an initial investment of approximately €25 million.

Medea SpA and Medea Newco are Italgas subsidiaries that handle the distribution and sale of gas on the Italian island, respectively. For the purposes of this deal, the enterprise value attributed to 100% of the assets held by Medea is €91.2 million as at Dec. 31, 2018.

Medea currently serves 45,000 customers and is in the process of building gas distribution networks in 10 out of 19 concessionary basins. In compliance with regulatory obligations, Medea has started spinning off sales activities to a separate company, provisionally named Medea Newco.

On top of its initial investment, Marguerite said it will also invest €44 million in subsequent capital raises to provide pro rata equity funding for the investments planned for Sardinia under Italgas' 2019-2025 business plan. The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of 2019, subject to the fulfillment of certain conditions precedent.

Marguerite II is funded by the European Investment Bank and several of the main European national promotional banks. It was launched in 2017 to support development of projects that support EU policies in areas of climate change, energy security and trans-European networks.