(Bloomberg) -- Enel SpA Chief Executive Officer Flavio Cattaneo said he expects the Italian utility’s net debt to drop this year, bringing it in line with peers, Ansa newswire reported. 

“Enel’s debt situation is known, our ambition has been to reduce it and we are certain that by this year it will be in line with its peers, indeed even better,” Cattaneo said at an event in Rome.

In November, the CEO announced a strategic plan to shift away from a recent spending spree under which Enel’s debt spiraled, and focus on the company’s most profitable projects and regions while cutting costs.

Industry veteran Cattaneo, tapped by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government to run the state-controlled firm, has made a series of moves to reshape Enel since taking over last May, including a management shakeup.

--With assistance from Alberto Brambilla.

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