EU: Commission and Germany’s FCO approve RWE’s purchase of E.ON assets

German utility RWE has won EU antitrust approval to buy the renewables businesses and nuclear electricity generation assets of E.ON, the European Commission said on Tuesday, February 26.

“The Commission concluded that the transaction would raise no competition concerns in the European Economic Area,” an EU executive said in a statement.

On completion, RWE, Germany’s biggest electricity producer, will become Europe’s third-largest renewable energy provider behind Spain’s Iberdrola and Italy’s Enel.

The Bundeskartellamt also cleared the planned acquisition of a minority stake of 16.67% in E.ON by RWE. The planned acquisition is part of an extensive exchange of business activities between the two undertakings. The Bundeskartellamt’s decision comes at the same time as the clearance by the European Commission of the planned acquisition of E.ON assets by RWE. The European Commission’s examination of the acquisition of a majority stake in and control over Innogy by E.ON is still ongoing.

The part of the overall transaction to be examined by the Bundeskartellamt mainly concerns the market for the generation and first time sale of electricity, e.g. to wholesalers, distributors, and large industrial customers, but not the sale of electricity to final consumers.

Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt stated: “We have thoroughly examined the effects of the planned shareholding of RWE in E.ON of 16.67% in cooperation with the European Commission. No competition concerns arise as regards the generation and the first time sale of electricity. RWE is by far the leading supplier in the conventional power generation sector in Germany. This part of the transaction, however, only has a minimal effect on RWE’s market position.”