CEZ completes acquisition of majority stake in GasNet

Prague, Aug 29 (CTK) - Czech semi-state energy group CEZ has completed the acquisition of a majority stake in GasNet, the country's largest gas distributor, paying EUR846.5m (about Kc21bn) for the 55.21 percent stake, CEZ told CTK today.

The stake was previously managed by Macquarie Asset Management. With this acquisition, CEZ supports the transition of the heating industry from coal power to natural gas and hydrogen.

"We are very pleased that we have managed to obtain approval from the European Commission as well as the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic and to complete the acquisition of GasNet. This will allow us to advance further in the transformation of CEZ as well as in the modernisation of the country’s energy sector," said CEZ CEO Daniel Benes. "Gas will play a key role in the heat generation sector, where we want to switch from coal to gas and biomass by 2030. Subsequently, we are planning to convert our gas infrastructure to the distribution of green hydrogen," he added.

GasNet supplies natural gas to households and businesses throughout the Czech Republic, except Prague and the South Bohemia Region, manages 65,000 kilometres of pipelines and has more than 2.3 million customers. It thus holds approximately 80 percent of the gas distribution in the Czech Republic. It distributes 66 terawatt hours (TWh) of gas annually.

"... there are many synergies to be found in the operation of power and gas distribution networks on which we want to focus next," said Pavel Cyrani, deputy chairman of CEZ's board of directors.

The acquisition is probably the biggest investment of this year for CEZ. CEZ CFO Martin Novak told CTK in early August that the changes planned in GasNet would be very marginal. Other shareholders in the company are Allianz and Canada's BCI. According to Novak, negotiations on a possible increase in CEZ's stake in GasNet are not on the agenda at the moment, as the company wants to focus mainly on the smooth integration of the company into its group.

GasNet fell into a loss of more than Kc303.5m last year. The year before, it posted a net profit of more than Kc1.89bn. The company's revenues last year fell by about 6 percent yr/yr to Kc13.5bn.

The CEZ group is one of the largest energy companies in the Czech Republic. Its majority shareholder is the state, which holds about 70 percent of the shares through the Finance Ministry. In H1 of this year, the group's net profit fell by 5 percent yr/yr to Kc21.1bn.

tam/er