ENI, EnBW make move to acquire GVS, dominate German gas market

ENI SPA and Germany's EnBW AG said they will acquire jointly a controlling interest in GSV Gasversorgung Süddeutschland GMBH, a major German natural gas transporting and marketing company.

July 9, 2002

2 min read

By OGJ editors

HOUSTON, July 9 -- ENI SPA and Germany's EnBW AG said they will acquire jointly a controlling interest in GSV Gasversorgung Süddeutschland GMBH, a major German natural gas transporting and marketing company.

ENI and EnBW acquired interests from Land of Baden-Württemberg 25%, Mannhelm utility MVV RHE AG 26.25%, and other local municipalities 10.97%. Through a controlled company, the two firms also will acquire 33.4% of GSV already owned by EnBW. In turn, the total 95.62% holdings in GSV will be transferred to the newly formed company. The value of GVS is estimated at 720 million euros.

GVS transports and markets about 8 billion cu m/year of gas to about 750 locations and achieved annual revenues of 1.7 billion euros in 2001.

ENI said that the transaction marks its fourth large-scale acquisition in recent years. Recently, the Italian state firm acquired 33.34% of Portugal's Galpenergia, solidifying ENI's entrance into the Portuguese gas market. The company also has inked two commercial agreements, one with Spain for the sale of as much as 1.5 billion cu m/year of gas and another with Turkey—along with project partner OAO Gazprom—for the sale of up to 16 billion cu m/year through the recently completed Blue Stream pipeline project (OGJ, Feb. 25, 2002, p. 8).