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Romania: Antitrust body to look into Swiss MET Group’s takeover of Repower

 |  September 8, 2016

Romania’s antitrust regulator said on Thursday it will look into the recent takeover of the local business of Swiss energy group Repower by commodity trader MET Group. At the end of July, Repower said it had sold its Romanian operations to Swiss MET Group for an undisclosed sum.

Repower’s announced in December 2015 it was realigning its business model to focus on the Swiss and Italian markets. The takeover deal is expected to be finalised in September. “In order to determine the concentration compatible with a normal competitive environment, the competition authority will consider the notified transaction under the merger regulation,” the Competition Council said in a press release.

Repower has operated in the Romanian market since 2010 through Repower Furnizare Romania with a team of around 30 employees, supplying electricity and services to small and medium-sized enterprises.

The company posted a net loss of 13 million lei ($3.2 million/ 2.9 million euro) for 2015 after a 0.12 million lei net profit a year earlier. Its turnover rose 11% last year to 509 million lei, data from the finance ministry website shows. MET Group already has operations in Romania, through MET Romania Energy Trade, which was established in 2009. Its business was initially focused on natural gas supply but at the end of 2014 the company expanded its activities to include power supply.

MET is present in 10 countries through subsidiaries, in 25 national gas markets and 21 international trading hubs, with a significant end-consumer presence in the CEE region. MET Romania Energy Trade turned to a 3.74 million lei loss in 2015 after a net profit of 0.69 million lei in 2014.

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