Eon/ Npower deal given green light

Eon has been given permission by the European Commission to begin its takeover of Innogy today (17 September).

The deal will see Eon become a majority shareholder in Innogy, which is the parent company of big six supplier Npower in the UK.

German-owned Eon says it will carry out the integration “swiftly”.

At a press conference in Essen this afternoon Johannes Teyssen, chief executive of Eon, was asked about the timeframe for integrating Npower into the business.

He said: “There is not even a decision as to how we will deal with the repositioning in the UK. That’s the first decision we will have to take.

“Before we can speculate on integration, we need to know what we talk about.

“That is the job that the Eon/Innogy board members will have to tackle, as soon as we have something to say we will talk. Currently we have looked into the giftbox, it is not very full, so we will have to wait and see.”

The deal will mean Eon eventually takes over fellow big six supplier Npower, resulting in the big six becoming the big five.

There were fears the deal would not be approved before the UK’s planned departure from the European Union on 31 October.

The deal will see Eon, which owns Eon Energy, acquire almost 77 per cent of all shares in Innogy from RWE. Upon completion of the voluntary public takeover offer, Eon will receive a further 9.4 percent of the shares in Innogy.

The energy giant has already acquired 3.8 per cent of shares in Innogy via the stock market which means it will hold a total of 90 per cent of all shares in Innogy and thus fulfilling the necessary requirements for a merger squeeze-out under the German Transformation Act, under which minority shareholders are obliged to sell to Eon.

It is thought that acquiring the minority shareholders could take anywhere between three to 12 months.