The German energy group E.ON has signed an agreement with the Hungarian state-owned energy company MVM Group to sell innogy Ceska republika, innogy’s entire electricity and gas retail business in the Czech Republic, to MVM Group for an undisclosed amount. The sale includes a portfolio of 1.2 million gas customers and 0.4 million electricity customers in the Czech Republic, along with cogeneration assets and a wholesale and e-mobility portfolio. The transaction is expected to close before the end of 2020, subject to the approval of the European Commission.
The sale was proposed by E.ON as remedies in the context of the antitrust approval of E.ON’s takeover of innogy. In March 2018, E.ON and RWE reached an agreement and engaged in a complex asset swap. Under the agreement, E.ON acquired the 76.8 % stake in Innogy held by RWE. Meanwhile, RWE received a 16.67 % stake in E.ON (created through a capital increase) and most of E.ON's renewable energy business. RWE kept Innogy's renewable energy business, minority interests in the Gundremmingen and Emsland nuclear power plants in Germany, Innogy's gas storage business, and the 37.9 % stake in the Austrian energy utility KELAG held by Innogy. Beyond the stake in Innogy, RWE paid €1.5bn to E.ON. In September 2019, the European Commission approved the acquisition by E.ON of Innogy's (RWE) distribution and consumer solutions business as well as certain of its electricity generation assets. E.ON's commitment package includes the divestment from most of its customers supplied with heating and electricity in Germany and corresponding assets for the buyer to carry on operations. E.ON also pledged to divest from the retail supply of electricity to unregulated customers in Hungary and from Innogy's entire business in the retail supply of electricity and gas in Czech Republic.