The multinational integrated oil and gas company Total has reached an agreement with French energy supplier Direct Energie to acquire 74.33% of its share capital for a price of €42 per share, i.e. a total consideration of €1.4bn. The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals from the French Financial Market Authority (Autorité des marchés financiers).
With the transaction, Total will gains access to Direct Energie's installed capacity of 1.35 GW, including 800 MW of gas-fired power plants (namely the 400 MW Marcinelle and the 400 MW Bayet power plants) and 550 MW of renewable capacity, which will add to Total's 900 MW installed capacity. In addition, Total will acquire a project portfolio of nearly 2.4 GW, consisting in 2 GW of renewable power projects in France and a 400 MW gas-fired power plant under construction. It will help Total meet its target to reach a global capacity of at least 10 GW of installed capacity within five years, either gas-fired or renewable-based.
As for the gas and electricity supply businesses, Total will gain access to Direct Energie’s 2.6 million client portfolio (of which 260,000 business customers), which will be combined to its 1.5 million client portfolio. Total is already active in energy distribution in Belgium through Lampiris. The transaction fits into Total's strategy Total also intends to have over 6 million electricity customers in France and more than 1 million customers in Belgium by 2022. The group plans to be an integrated player on the whole power and gas supply chains and to reach a share of 15% on the French energy market.