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State energy company Sefe: key role for European energy security and the green energy transition
Photo: IMAGO/Zoonar.com/Timon Schneider / IMAGO/Zoonar
Almost half was already owned by Sefe, now the rest is to follow: The federally owned energy company wants to completely take over the gas network operator Wiga. The former Gazprom Germania subsidiary is buying the stake from the previous Wiga majority owner Wintershall Dea - for an undisclosed amount. The company announced this. Sefe already holds 49.98 percent.
Wiga is the owner of the gas network operators Gascade and Nel, which operate networks in Germany with a total length of around 4,150 kilometers. The networks played a key role in European energy security and the green energy transition.
For the takeover, the federal government had previously asked the EU Commission to lift the ban on purchases of Sefe. This represented a condition for the state aid approval of the state entry. The company Sefe was formerly called Gazprom Germania, was a subsidiary of the Russian state-owned company Gazprom and was nationalized as a result of the Russian war of aggression on Ukraine and the energy crisis. Along with the state-owned Uniper and the Leipzig EnBW subsidiary VNG, it is one of the largest German gas companies.
EU approval for Wiga is still pending under antitrust law. The acquisition of the shares is still subject to merger control approval from the Commission. According to Wintershall Dea, the transaction is expected to be completed in summer 2024.
CEO Egbeert Laege pointed out the strategic importance: "With Sefe as the sole shareholder of Wiga it would be ensured that Gascade can convert the existing efficient infrastructure to hydrogen in the future and thus advance the green energy transition."
The chemical giant BASF sold its majority stake in Wintershall DEA to the British Harbor Energy at the end of last year for 11.2 billion euros in cash and shares. However, the investment in Wiga was excluded.
eru/Reuters/dpa