Endesa

Endesa, S.A. engages in the generation, distribution, and sale of electricity primarily in Spain and Portugal. The company generates electricity from various energy sources, such as hydroelectric, nuclear, thermal, wind, and solar. As of December 31, 2021, it distributed electricity to approximately 21 million customers covering a total area of approximately 195,794 square kilometers. The company's distribution and transmission networks consist of 316,506 kilometers. It also sells energy, as well as provides energy related commercial services. In addition, the company engages in installation, maintenance, and repair of home electrical, heating, and air conditioning; trading operations; and investment holding business. Further, it is involved in the supply of electricity and gas to other European markets, including Germany, France, and the Netherlands. Additionally, the company engages in the electric mobility, demand management, and energy storage; exploitation of primary energy resources; provision of industrial services in the areas of telecommunications, water, and gas; electricity transmission business; management, operation, and administration of nuclear plants; issuance of debt instruments; and provision of consultancy and civil engineering services. The company was formerly known as Empresa Nacional de Electricidad, S.A. and changed its name to Endesa, S.A. in June 1997. The company was incorporated in 1944 and is headquartered in Madrid, Spain. Endesa, S.A. is a subsidiary of ENEL Iberia, S.L.U.

The company was formed in 1944 as Empresa Nacional de Electricidad, S.A.; its first president was Esteban Terradas, and its first CEO was Juan Granell Pascual. The company changed its name to Endesa, S.A. in 1997. In September 2004, it took control of the French company SNET . This was followed by the downsizing of 30% of SNET's employees.Compostilla I was its first production plant, whose construction began in 1945, being inaugurated in Ponferrada, capital of the Leon region of El Bierzo, on July 28, 1949. The site chosen for the plant, financed with public funds, prioritized the proximity to the national coal quarries, since it meant considerably lowering the supply chain for the power plant, at a time when Spain was living blocked after the Civil War. It was a thermoelectric power plant designed to reduce the dependence that until then had on hydraulic energy in Spain. In 1965, the Compostilla II power station was inaugurated in the bordering municipality of Cubillos del Sil, which replaced Compostilla I in 1972.

At the same time that Endesa began its operations in Ponferrada, the shortage of electricity in specific parts of the country was noted, with no possible short-term solution. At that time, it was thought that the implementation of mobile power plants could solve emergency situations that occurred many times in the Spanish electricity system. For all this, Endesa bought ten mobile units to deal with critical situations with the electricity supply in Seville, Barcelona, Cartagena, Asturias and Mallorca. Thus, the so-called "Electricity Firefighters" were born.

In September 2005, Barcelona-based Gas Natural made a bid for Endesa, whose board unanimously immediately rejected a €23 billion offer. On January 5, 2006, the Tribunal de Defensa de la Competencia blocked the merger of Gas Natural and Endesa because of what it claimed would be irreversible negative impacts on competition. For most of 2006 and 2007, Endesa was the target of rival takeover bids by Germany's E.On and the Italian firm Enel. Despite Gas Natural being half the size of Endesa, its bid was championed by the then-Socialist government as an all-Spanish deal, but Gas Natural decided to withdraw its bid after the German firm E.On offered a higher bid for the company. The opposition People's Party of the day, and some Madrid politicians, criticised the bid, alleging political interference by the Socialists and a Catalan nationalist plot to control energy supply respectively.On 2 February 2007, E.On offered €38.75 for each share of Endesa. The German firm withdrew its bid two months later in exchange for a promise from rival bidders to sell it part of the Spanish utility's assets. SNET, Endesa Italia and Enel's Viesgo were amongst the business units ultimately sold off to E.On. Acciona and Enel succeeded in their joint bid to acquire Endesa in October 2007 for an estimated €42.5 billion and they announced later that month that they jointly held 92.06% of Endesa's share capital as a result of their 100% takeover bid launched on Endesa, with the remaining 7.94% being free float.

The two companies initially jointly managed Endesa through an Acciona-controlled holding company which held 50.01% of Endesa's share capital, but in February 2009 Enel agreed to buy out Acciona's stake, taking its total ownership to over 92%. Some Endesa assets will be sold off to Acciona as part of the deal.As of September 2015, Enel owned 70.1% of Endesa's share capital.

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