RWE says that it will continue to provide support to German transmission system operator (TSO) Amprion after agreeing to sell a majority shareholding in the company.
The German utility is to sell a 74.9 per cent share in Amprion to a consortium of financial investors for €1.3 billion. The sale will help RWE to reduce its net debt and will “spread the burden” of investments required in Germany’s transmission grid over the next few years.
Amprion is the largest of Germany’s four TSOs.
“Amprion plans to invest over €3 billion over the next 10 years,” said Dr Juergen Grossmann, CEO of RWE AG. “In the investor consortium, we have gained a reliable, financially sound partner with a long-term strategy. RWE will continue to provide competent and reliable support to Amprion’s transmission systems business.”
The buyer is a consortium of predominantly German institutional financial investors lead by Commerz Real AG, a subsidiary of Commerzbank AG. RWE is to retain a 25.1 per cent shareholding in Amprion, and will also hold temporarily an additional ten per cent share through a stake in the financial consortium.
The sale is in line with RWE’s intention to divest up to €8 billion worth of company assets as part of its mid-term planning strategy.
•RWE is also thought to have been reassessing its financial position in the wake of the German government’s decision to phase out nuclear power. Its credit rating has been lowered by Standard & Poor’s, which predicts that the Essen-based firm’s profits will be hit over the next three years because of falling power prices and Germany’s nuclear fuel tax.
The company has recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Russia’s Gazprom on forming a strategic partnership in Europe’s power generation industry.
As part of their talks, the two companies will consider the joint operation and construction of existing or newly built gas and coal fired power plants in Germany, the UK and Benelux countries.
Such a deal would help to boost RWE’s finances as well as secure it with a long-term supply of natural gas. It would give Gazprom a sound footing in Europe’s power generation market.
“In light of recent decisions by the German government to reduce their nuclear power programmes, we see good prospects for the construction of new modern gas-fired power plants in Germany,” said Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller. “The signed Memorandum provides RWE with exclusive rights for negotiations with Gazprom on the implementation of energy projects in Germany, UK and the Benelux countries for a period of three months.”
