EU Commission gives green light for Innogy takeover
The EU competition regulation authorities have given the go-ahead, subject to conditions, for E.ON’s takeover of RWE subsidiary Innogy. E.ON will thus also acquire Innogy’s charging infrastructure business, with certain effects.
The EU Commission’s approval, however, is subject to various commitments by E.ON to divest individual businesses or parts of businesses. Among other things, E.ON will have to cease operating 34 charging stations for electric vehicles on motorways. The sites are to be taken over by other providers.
In addition, Innogy’s electricity and gas customer business in the Czech Republic will have to be divested. Divestments of Innogy’s Hungarian electricity customer business are also a condition. “We would have liked to continue these businesses, but we are committed to carry out the measures agreed with the European Commission. Considering the new E.ON’s outstanding development opportunities, these concessions are tolerable,” said E.ON CEO Johannes Teyssen.
The transaction with RWE also includes the transfer of E.ON’s and Innogy’s renewables businesses. E.ON’s renewables business will be transferred to RWE by the end of September, and Innogy’s will be transferred as soon as possible next year. E.ON also intends to transfer its minority interests in the Gundremmingen and Emsland nuclear power plants to RWE by the end of September. Innogy’s gas storage business and Innogy’s stake in the Austrian energy company Kelag will not be transferred to RWE until next year. E.ON will also receive financial compensation worth €1.5 billion from RWE.
RWE’s 76.8 per cent stake in Innogy is expected to be transferred to E.ON tomorrow. RWE will become E.ON’s largest shareholder with 16.7 per cent. E.ON’s takeover bid from last year will be completed by the end of next week and E.ON’s stake in Innogy will be increased by a further 9.4 percentage points. Together with the shares acquired on the stock exchange in recent months, E.ON will then hold a total of 90 per cent of Innogy’s shares. E.ON will also be appropriately represented on Innogy’s Supervisory Board very promptly.
As resolved at E.ON’s Annual Shareholders’ Meeting in May 2019, the energy company will increase E.ON’s Supervisory Board to 20 members following the completion of the Innogy acquisition. For the shareholder representatives, E.ON will propose RWE CEO Rolf Martin Schmitz for court appointment, as well as entrepreneur Ulrich Grillo and U.S. management consultant Deborah B. Wilkens, both of whom are currently still members of Innogy’s Supervisory Board. In addition, Monika Krebber, Stefan May, and René Pöhls will become members of the E.ON Supervisory Board as representatives of the employees of innogy. The new E.ON will continue to be managed by the current members of the company’s Board of Management. E.ON’s Supervisory Board reaffirmed its previous decision that Johannes Teyssen should continue to lead the company as Chairman of the Board of Management. He also confirmed Leonhard Birnbaum, Thomas König, Marc Spieker and Karsten Wildberger as members of the Board of Management of E.ON SE. The Supervisory Board extended the contract of CFO Marc Spieker by five years until the end of 2024.
E.ON has now almost completely filled the future management positions in competition-relevant areas and thus the first level below the Board of Management. As in the case of the group selected in June, the newly appointed executives are almost equally divided between E.ON and Innogy. Victoria Ossadnik becomes CEO of Sales and Customer Solutions in Germany. Katherina Reiche (previously CEO of the German Association of Municipal Enterprises, VKU) will take over as head of one of E.ON’s largest and most important operating units in the German grid business from January 2020. The new E.ON will have its headquarters in Essen as planned.
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