Deutsche Bank, which advised Electricité de France on its troubled investment in Italian utility Edison three years ago, could profit still further by advising a different company to take the stake off EdF's hands.

The German bank has emerged as adviser to Spanish utility Endesa, one of a handful of companies that last week filed bids with EdF to acquire all or part of its stake in Italenergia, a holding company for Edison, according to M&A bankers in London.