By Stephen Jewkes
MILAN (Reuters) - Italy's biggest utility, Enel (MI:ENEI), sees M&A opportunities in Europe after elections in France and Germany are out of the way and new European power sector regulations agreed.
Earlier this week, German peer RWE (DE:RWEG) raised the prospect of big merger deals in Europe's crisis-hit utility sector, saying it was mulling options including tie-ups with rivals and a stake sale in its Innogy (DE:IGY) renewables unit.
"There will be some opportunities in Europe after the French and German elections and when Europe's new regulatory framework is in place," Enel Chief Executive Francesco Starace said in a call on 2016 results.
Falling power prices and a boom in renewable energy have prompted traditional utilities to change their business models, fuelling the need for consolidation.
Enel, Europe's biggest utility in terms of customers, is looking to its grids and green power businesses to drive growth, especially in emerging markets and North America.
In November, it said it would sell 3 billion euros (2.5 billion pounds) of assets in the next three years while at the same time reinvesting about 2 billion euros in bolt-on acquisitions.
It expects to spend 1.2 billion euros on acquisitions in the first half of 2017, mainly its purchase of Brazilian power distribution company Celg-D.
"It's not just Europe. We're interested in assets globally," Starace said.
The CEO said he did not expect U.S. President Donald Trump's energy policies to affect the growth of renewable energy in North America over the next two to three years.
Enel, which controls Spanish utility Endesa (MC:ELE), raised its dividend on Friday and confirmed its targets for this year after posting a 12.3 percent rise in net profit for 2016.
Net ordinary profit for last year came in at 3.243 billion euros, in line with an analyst consensus and its own target.
At 0827 GMT, Enel shares were down 1.8 percent while the European utility index (SX6P) was down 0.6 percent.