Essen (energate) - The Belgian transmission grid operator Fluxys is joining the Essen-based competitor Open Grid Europe (OGE) as a major shareholder. For this purpose, the Belgians are taking over a share package from Macquarie, which the Australian investment company had held in the portfolio of one of its funds for around a decade. Both Fluxys and Macquarie have now announced that almost 24 per cent of all shares are to change hands. The deal also includes the 0.5 per cent OGE stake held by the UK City of Halifax administration. Antitrust approval for the transaction is still pending, according to them.
Fluxys and Macquarie want to close the deal by the end of March. Neither side gave financial details of the takeover. The fact that OGE operates a transmission grid of 12,000 kilometres through six subsidiaries, making it Germany's largest transmission system operator, suggests that the deal is likely to be worth billions. In purely geographical terms, the grid operated by Fluxys and OGE together stretches from Great Britain via Belgium and Luxembourg to Switzerland as well as to the German-French border and also the maritime border with Denmark. OGE has so far shared a joint venture with Fluxys to operate the Trans Europa Naturgas Pipeline (Tenp). This pipeline transports natural gas from the Netherlands to Switzerland and on to Italy.
Focus on hydrogen and CCS infrastructure
The acquisition is of great strategic importance for Fluxys, as the company emphasised. The Belgians have their eye on the ramp-up of the hydrogen economy in Europe. In future, Germany would have additional transnational gas transport routes via Belgium at its disposal for the import of hydrogen as well as the export of CO2 within the framework of CCS, as soon as the subsidiaries of Fluxys and OGE move closer together than before. The aim is to accelerate the ongoing transformation of the grids to decarbonise gas supply, announced Fluxys CEO Pascal De Buck. Macquarie, meanwhile, felt the time was right to cash in on the stake. "Since our investment in 2012, OGE has undertaken extensive upgrades across its grid," reported Hilko Schomerus, managing director at Macquarie Asset Management. Now OGE is in a position to play a weighty role in Germany's decarbonisation path, he added. Nevertheless, the Australians had already put their minority OGE stake up for sale in 2018 (
energate reported).
Macquarie remains active in the German gas market
For Macquarie, the sale means in no way a turning away from the German gas industry. Through another company, the Australians are currently involved in the realisation of the
LNG terminal in Lubmin, which has just received its operating licence. Yet another Macquarie fund is the owner of Thyssengas (
energate reported). /pa
