EU approves TenneT buyout of E.ON's German power lines
(BRUSSELS) - The EU's competition watchdog on Friday approved Dutch energy group TenneT's takeover of German rival E.ON's extra high-voltage distribution network in Germany, saying the deal posed no anti-trust threat.
The EU Commission said in a statement that its investigation "found that the proposed merger would not affect the competitive conditions in the relevant markets."
E.ON has agreed to sell such networks to escape heavy fines by the commission and plans to offload assets worth a total of 10 billion euros to raise cash.
The German company announced in November that it would sell the network of 10,700 kilometres (6,700 miles) of electric lines for around 1.1 billion euros (1.6 billion dollars), calling the move a key step towards an integrated European electricity market.
E.ON and TenneT agreed that the value of E.ON subsidiary Transpower Stromübertragungs GmbH, which owns and operates the extra high-voltage transmission network, was 885 million euros.
E.ON stressed then that regional distribution grids "which form by far the largest part of E.ON's network business are not affected by this sale."
TenneT operates the Dutch national extra-high and high voltage electricity transmission system.
The German power network will need heavy investment in coming years to integrate wind farms that have mushroomed along the country's northern coast.
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