1st December 2016, the beginning of a new story
Some dates are remembered forever because they become part of history, whether personal memories or the stuff books are made of. They sometimes make newspaper headlines, but more often pass largely unnoticed, revealing their importance over time.
For Enel, 1st December 2016 is one of those dates. “Effective date when Enersis Américas changes its company name to Enel Américas S.A.”, as our corporate events calendar summary states. But the sober language for insiders should not be misconstrued: this date marks a new beginning.
“These more than 500 work days have changed the group structure in Latin America. We are beginning a new chapter in a moment of global transition for the sector. We will now start to write a new story”
Francesco Starace, CEO Enel
We kept our promise
At the presentation of our Strategic Plan in March 2015, we set four key objectives that were to guide us until the start of 2020: operational efficiency, industrial growth, active portfolio management, and shareholder remuneration.
On 18th November 2015 – only eight months later – when we presented the 2016-2019 Strategic Plan, we added a new objective. The press release issued that day stated, “On top of the faster than expected progress to date across the four strategic pillars presented in March, the new plan therefore incorporates a fifth focus area– Group Simplification.”
“The simplification of a complex, diversified and broad organisation like ours is an ambitious and necessary pledge”
Simplification was the only way to grow in a scenario of hectic global change, to enter the future with all the energy of our history and open up to the sudden changes in the economy and society afoot in the field of energy.
With its new asset, the Latin America of Enel today is able to move adeptly along the road to achieving the goals set by the Strategic Plan that was presented to the financial community on 22nd November 2016.
Enabling growth in every country
On 2nd December, Francesco Starace will be at the New York Stock Exchange, where he will ring the opening bell that traditionally starts negotiations on Wall Street. This symbolic gesture further highlights the shift to the definite operability of Enel Américas.
This marks the completion of an effort to create value for Enel shareholders and the minority shareholders of the subsidiaries, while at the same time triggering operational benefits for the whole Group.
“The rationalisation will improve synergies between the various countries, freeing new resources and generating more profits for industrial growth”
Alberto De Paoli, Chief Financial Officer of Enel
Now that the corporate reorganisation is complete, what lies ahead for us is a thorough and scrupulous adjustment of the new organisation according to each market’s specific characteristics.
The New Year will see us engaged in “refining activity in each country, which is technically easier but not less important,” De Paoli explained.
The common denominator in 2017 will consist in finding the most suitable solutions for the various contexts in order to increase investments, improve the quality of our customer service and develop dialogue with local communities to increasingly shape the sustainability model that is an integral part of our business.
A common history, a single name
One by one, the various operating companies in Latin America will assume the name Enel. It will be a new beginning that will gain us recognition from the more than 15.6 million customers we already serve in the region every day. Our strengths are our history and our ability to be forward-looking.
The renaming is the culmination of a challenging process that has lasted more than two years and whose impact reaches far beyond corporate and financial areas. The result is a more efficient and rational company, thanks to the simplification of the South American corporate chain that has separated activities in Chile from those in the other countries where we are present: Brazil, Peru, Colombia and Argentina.
The completion of the rebranding process, expected by the end of 2016, corresponds to a global digital identity shared in all countries where the Group operates. We add Latin America to the list of areas that will see Enel’s new face backed by the strength of the Open Power strategy and a visual identity that symbolises our way of being and working.
Wherever we are, we share the same objectives, a common vision and the same daily commitment. The new Enel brand is now a visible sign of our unified global identity, at every latitude.