EDF Buys Back EnBW’s Stakes In Poland

EDF and EnBW have reached an agreement which will see EDF purchasing EnBW’s two subsidiaries, owning respectively 32.45% and 15.59% in the polish companies ERSA and KOGENERACJA.

This transaction had already been planned for in the contract of 6th December 2010 regarding the sale of EDF’s stake in EnBW to the Land of Baden-Württemberg.

Following this transaction the EDF Group will then hold 97,34% of ERSA (the 2,66% remaining stake being owned by the company’s employees) and 50% plus one share in KOGENERACJA. The indirect acquisition of KOGENERACJA’s shares will not result in a public tender offer for the company, which is listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. With a total amount of €301 million and with an implied multiple of around 5x, the transaction is in line with the financial guidance announced by the Group at the end of July 2011.

ERSA owns the Rybnik power plant, which includes 8 coal-fired units producing 220 MW of electricity and which will be home in 2018 to the future 900 MW high-yield supercritical coal-fired power station announced by the EDF Group on 5 December 2011. KOGENERACJA owns the electricity and heat production power stations at Wroclaw and Siechnice (363 MW of which is electricity and 1060 MW of thermal production1), and the Zielona Gora combined gas cycle with its 190 MW of electricity and 95 MW of thermal production.

This acquisition will allow EDF to pursue its strategy of development and integration in Poland, where the Group had had a presence for 12 years, generating turnover in excess of one billion euro and with an installed electricity capacity of more than 3 GW. It will also allow the EDF Group to exploit new operational synergies estimated at between €3 and €5 million a year.

The completion of this transaction is conditional on approval by the relevant competition authorities.