Austria’s electricity company, Verbund, has acquired a 51% stake in gas pipeline company Gas Connect Austria from OMV in a €217 million ($253 million) deal, Kallanish Energy reports.
The agreement, first announced in March this year, was confirmed on Wednesday by both companies. The deal is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to close during the first half of 2021.
Verbund deputy chairman, Michael Strugl, said that the acquisition represents a “key strategic step” for the company, strengthening its position in an integrated energy infrastructure and ensuring stable earnings.
“Verbund operates the Austrian power transmission grid and is experienced in operating regulated infrastructure. As a bridging technology, gas will continue to play a key role on the path to a renewable energy system,”
“The importance of the gas network will grow significantly in future as it will increasingly be used to transport green gases such as green hydrogen. In the long term, we see a global hydrogen economy, one in which large quantities of energy need to be transported internationally.”
Verbund will also assume the outstanding liabilities of Gas Connect Austria to OMV upon the close of the transaction. According to the terms of the deal, the total cash consideration paid by Verbund to OMV will equal €436.9 million ($508.6 million), subject to the amount of liabilities at closing.
OMV had previously stated that the sale is part of its €2 billion ($2.23 billion) divestment target by 2021, which will fund its $4.68 billion share acquisition of petrochemicals company Borealis. Offloading its stake in Gas Connect Austria will have a debt-relief impact of more than €570 million ($663 million), OMV said in a statement announcing the sale.
The remaining 49% of Gas Connect Austria is held by Gasinfrastruktur – a joint venture between Allianz Group (60%) and Snam (40%).
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