E.ON CFO says to raise 4 billion eur by May-paper

FRANKFURT, Oct 26 (Reuters) - E.ON EONG.DE, the second largest utility in Europe, does not expect the credit crunch to scupper its plans to refinance several billion euros in debt, its chief financial officer told a Sunday paper.

"Raising capital has become more difficult and somewhat more expensive but we have issued 17 billion euros ($21.4 billion) in bonds over the past 12 months," Marcus Schenck said in an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.

"I am optimistic that we can refinance ourselves by May 2009, when 4 billion euros bonds are maturing."

While utilities are often some of the largest issuers of debt, they enjoy rock-solid cash flows thanks to their business model and remain less risky investments in general along with companies in anti-cyclical industries such as pharmaceuticals and food and beverage.

When asked whether Schenck could also reaffirm the group's full-year forecast, the CFO replied: "Yes, we continue to expect for 2008 an increase in adjusted earnings (before interest and taxes) of 5-10 percent." (Reporting by Christiaan Hetzner; editing by Sue Thomas)