CEO: EDP has made no decision about selling Naturgas

LISBON (Reuters) -- Portugal's largest company EDP has not yet decided whether to sell its Spanish gas distribution network Naturgas, chief executive Antonio Mexia said on Friday.

Sources with knowledge of the process told Reuters in February that EDP has hired banks to evaluate a possible sale of Naturgas seeking to reduce debts of around $17 billion.

Mexia told a conference call on Friday that EDP is watching the Spanish gas sector closely and considering "all the options concerning our asset portfolio."

"But all I can say today is that we have not taken any decision concerning whether or not to go ahead with any eventual sale of Naturgas," he said. "We follow this very attentively, as you can imagine, but today we have not taken any decision."

Naturgas is Spain's second-largest gas distributor with 4,800 miles of networks in northern Spain and some analysts put its value at over 2 billion euros.

Spanish gas assets have been the focus of investor interest in the past two years.

Goldman Sachs is awaiting binding bids for Redexis, which Spanish media estimate could fetch 2.5 billion euros. In 2015 a consortium led by Dutch pension fund PGGM bought Madrilena Red de Gas from Morgan Stanley at high multiples of 13 times EBITDA.

Reporting by Sergio Goncalves, writing by Axel Bugge; Editing by Ruth Pitchford

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