Competition watchdog given week to decide over Nelja, Eesti Energia merger
The Estonian Competition Authority is to decide within a week whether the Estonian state-owned energy group Eesti Energia will be allowed to acquire renewable energy company Nelja Energia.
"The Competition Authority has yet to make a decision regarding the merger of Eesti Energia AS and Nelja Energia AS," Maarja Uulits, head of the PR department of the Estonian Competition Authority, told BNS.
A supplementary proceeding regarding the transaction was initiated on 6 July with a maximum duration of four months. Hence, the decision is to be made in early November.
The Estonian Competition Authority had decided this summer to take additional time to determine whether competition on the market could be significantly damaged as a result of the transaction, first and foremost by way of the emergence or strengthening of a market dominating condition.
The transaction has already been approved by the competition watchdog's Latvian and Lithuanian counterparts.
At the end of May, Enefit Green, the renewable energy subsidiary of Eesti Energia, signed an agreement with Nelja Energia's majority shareholder Vardar Eurus AS and its minority shareholders according to which it would acquire Nelja Energia for €289 million as well as take over Nelja Energia's liabilities, worth €204 million. Eesti Energia intends to list Enefit Green in the future.
Following the acquisition of Nelja Energia, the amount of renewable energy produced by Enefit Green will almost triple from the current 400 gigawatt-hours to more than one terawatt-hour. Last year, Enefit Green produced altogether 372 gigawatt-hours of renewable energy.
Enefit Green owns four wind farms with a total installed capacity of 111 megawatts, three cogeneration plants in Estonia and Latvia, as well as one hydroelectric power plant and one solar power plant. Enefit Green produces energy from wind, biomass, water, mixed household waste, and solar.
Nelja Energia owns 17 wind farms in Estonia and Lithuania with total capacity of 287 megawatts. The company also opened a pellet factory in Latvia last year with an annual yield of 140,000 tonnes as well as a combined heat and power plant producing a total of 3.9 megawatts of energy and 19.2 megawatts of heat from biomass.
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Editor: Aili Vahtla