Czech EPH to buy E.ON's Italian coal and gas assets
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E.ON's Italian assets have a total generation capacity of nearly 4,500MW, including a 600MW coal-fired power plant in Sardinia (Fiume Santo) and six gas-fired power plants located on the Italian mainland and in Sicily.
The transaction, subject to the approval of the European Union competition authority, is expected to close in the second quarter. The divestment of the Italian assets is part of E.ON's ongoing restructuring aimed at focusing on renewable energy and distribution grids.
EPH is the Czech Republic's biggest heat supplier and the second biggest electricity producer in the country.
EPH is the Czech Republic's biggest heat supplier and the second biggest electricity producer in the country. The group operates electricity, gas and mining companies in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Germany.
In Germany EPH owns brown-coal mining company Mibrag and has expressed interest in taking over the German lignite assets of Swedish firm Vattenfall. Besides Vattenfall's assets, EPH is also eyeing Italian Enel's 66% stake in Slovak dominant power producer Slovenske Elektrarne (SE).
If EPH, owned by closely-held Slovak financial group J&T, buys all of those assets it would have over 16GW of installed capacity, making it larger than its domestic competitor, the state-controlled utility CEZ (which has around 15GW). This would more than double EPH's current debt level, which is reckoned to be as high as €5bn according to the Czech media. ■