Back in July, Hungarian state-owned MVM Group signed an agreement with German energy giant E.ON regarding the sale of Innogy’s entire electricity and gas retail business in the Czech Republic (ICR). The European Commission has now cleared the acquisition under the EU Merger Regulation.
ICR is active in the electricity and gas retail business in Czechia, combined with the generation, wholesale, distribution and some additional non-core activities. The company serves more than 1.6 million retail and corporate customers in the country.
MVM is a state-owned vertically integrated energy group with a portfolio that covers the entire Hungarian energy system. It is involved in heat generation, electricity trading, gas trading and storage, transmission system operation, wholesale and retail supply of gas and electricity, district heating, and telecommunication services.
MVM will acquire Innogy’s electricity generation assets, as well as its wholesale and e-mobility portfolios, which is considered to be a milestone in the group’s strategy to expand in the region and become the leading energy company in Central and Eastern Europe.
In a recent interview with CEENERGYNEWS, György Kóbor, CEO of MVM Group said that MVM Group reached its limits within the domestic market and now aims to enter new ones such as the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Serbia or Croatia, where a subsidiary of MVM Group already booked a significant stake of capacity in the Krk LNG terminal.
The acquisition of ICR required approval from the European Commission as it is linked to clearance of a bigger transaction involving German energy giants E.ON and RWE.
The Commission concluded that the proposed acquisition would raise no competition concerns, given the companies’ moderate combined market position resulting from the proposed transaction.
Upon the conclusion of the agreement, E.ON said that this transaction marks the final step in the fulfilment of the remedies offered by E.ON in the context of the antitrust approval of E.ON’s takeover of Innogy.
E.ON has previously entered into agreements for the sale of a significant part of E.ON’s German heating electricity business, part of E.ON’s electricity retail business in Hungary and regarding the discontinuation of the construction and operation of a number of electric-vehicle charging stations on motorways in Germany.
