Italgas in exclusive talks to buy Veolia's Italian water assets

MILAN (Reuters) - Italy's biggest gas distributor Italgas said on Tuesday it had entered into exclusive talks with Veolia Environnement to acquire stakes in Italian water companies owned by the French group.

Italgas said that Veolia had granted it an exclusivity period until May 10 to complete due diligence activities, without providing financial details.

Under the potential deal, Italgas would acquire the entire share capital or a majority stake in companies running water services in the regions of Lazio, Campania and Sicily.

Last week, the Italian group said it would seek external growth through tenders for gas distribution services and M&A opportunities in the gas distribution, water and energy efficiency sectors, as well as developing the Greek market.

(Reporting by Federico Maccioni, editing by Alvise Armellini)