EU Commission Clears Buy of CEZ Assets in Romania by Macquarie

The Commission concluded that the proposed acquisition would raise no competition concerns, because it would not result in any overlaps between the activities of the companies, it said in a press release.

MIRA announced in October that a consortium led by Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund 6 (MEIF6) has reached an agreement to acquire power assets owned by CEZ in Romania. The value of the deal was not disclosed.

The integrated energy infrastructure portfolio which is to be acquired from CEZ comprises an 86,665 km regulated electricity distribution network, an electricity and gas supply business with 1.4 million residential and industrial connections in southwestern Romania, as well as a renewable energy platform, with 622 MW of primarily onshore wind farms, Macquarie said at the time.

In October, CEZ Romania said that the transfer of assets from Romania is part of the new strategy of the CEZ Group to withdraw its selected assets from certain countries. CEZ Group is currently in the process of selling its assets in Bulgaria and Poland as well.

According to CEZ Romania, the sales agreement covers all three business segments included in the transaction: electricity distribution, energy supply and the renewable energy operational portfolio. The 7 companies targeted by the transaction are: Distributie Energie Oltenia, Ovidiu Development, Tomis Team, MW Team Invest, CEZ Vânzare, TMK Hydroenergy Power and CEZ Romania.

CEZ Group will remain active in Romania, focusing on energy trading through CEZ Trade and on energy services through High-Tech Climate, it said at the time.

Macquarie is an Australia-headquartered global financial services group operating in 31 markets in asset management, retail and business banking, wealth management, leasing and asset financing, market access, commodity trading, renewables development, investment banking and principal investment.

MIRA is part of Macquarie Asset Management - the asset management arm of Macquarie Group. MIRA is managing the operation and development of electricity distribution networks in Australia, Austria, Finland, Spain, and the United States. The group is also a major investor in clean energy, managing investments in 12.4 GW of green generation capacity globally across onshore and offshore wind, solar PV, hydropower, geothermal, and energy from waste.

(SeeNews, January 4, 2020)