GRTgaz, the French natural gas transmission operator, owned 75% by French energy group Engie and 25% by SIG (held by public fund Caisse des Dépôts and CNP Assurantes), has signed a preliminary Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with its shareholders on the planned acquisition by GRTgaz of Engie's entire stake in Elengy, a fully-owned subsidiary of Engie operating LNG terminals in France.
Elengy is the second largest LNG terminal operator in Europe with three terminals in France totalling a regasification capacity of 21.25 bcm/year. GRTgaz is the second largest natural gas transmission network operator in Europe with over 32,000 km of pipelines. Their merger would responds to the current infrastructure consolidation, where very large players are integrating several gas chain businesses, in particular LNG terminals and gas transmission networks.
The transaction will not modify the current shareholding of GRTgaz (75% Engie, 25% SIG) following a capital increase reserved to SIG and a contribution of shares owned by Engie. The transaction will reduce Engie’s net debt by €200m.