Germany has blocked the sale by Australian investment manager IFM Global Infrastructure Fund of a 20% stake in the power transmission system operator (TSO) 50Hertz to China's State Grid Corporation and instructed government-owned bank KfW to acquire that stake: Belgium's power transmission system operator (TSO) Elia will exert its preemption right to acquire the 20% stake it does not already own in 50Hertz and will immediately sell the interest to KfW thereafter.
IFM Global Infrastructure Fund is progressively divesting its stake in 50Hertz (40% acquired from Vattenfall in 2010). The group put a 20% interest for sale in April 2018, which attracted China's State Grid Corporation. The German government already cited security reasons and asked Elia to use its "right of first refusal and to take over the 20% interest. Elia also exerted its preemption right to acquire IMF's remaining 20% stake and to sell it to KfW.
50Hertz supplies electricity to 18 million customers in the German Federal states of Berlin, Brandenburg, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Schleswig-Holstein, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. The group was sold by Vattenfall to Belgian TSO Elio and IFM in 2010. Since then, 50Hertz's Ebitda has been growing by an average 13%/year and is the fastest growing subsidiary of the Elia group.