“Munich’s municipal utility plans billion-euro deal with British energy company”

The municipal utility of Munich, SWM, is set to merge its natural gas business with a British company by founding a joint subsidiary in a billion-euro deal, Heiner Effern writes in Süddeutsche Zeitung. The name of SWM’s British partner “is still kept a strict secret”, Effern writes. It will primarily control the joint venture, which will also be located in the UK, he adds. SWM has invested about two billion euros in exploiting gas resources in the North Sea over recent years but technical problems and low gas prices have brought its activities there to a standstill, Effern says. “With a new, strong partner that is also active in the North Sea”, SWM is seeking to “avoid taking that kind of risk in the future”, he says.

Read the article in German here.

See the CLEW dossier Small but powerful – Germany’s municipal utilities and the CLEW factsheet Germany’s dependence on imported fossil fuels for background.