September 5 (SeeNews) - Italian natural gas distribution group Italgas said that it has completed the acquisition of the entire share capital of Greek sector player DEPA Infrastructure from the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund (HRADF) and Hellenic Petroleum (HELPE) after all pre-agreed conditions for closing the deal were met.
Italgas financed the deal through committed credit lines, the Italian company said in a press release last week.
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Italgas agreed to acquire DEPA Infrastructure in December 2021 in a transaction with an equity value of 733 million euros ($726.8 million).
"The completion of the sale of DEPA Infrastructure to Italgas Group is one of the most important asset development projects carried out by HRADF, with significant benefits for the Greek economy and the Greek citizens," HRADF chief executive Dimitris Politis said. He added that the deal advances Greece's energy transition goals by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and ensuring adequate financing for the company for the expansion of Greece's natural gas distribution networks.
In June, Italgas announced it will deploy 1.8 billion euro between 2022 and 2028 towards the acquisition of DEPA Infrastructure, its consolidation and further development, with a focus on network digitalisation, renewable gases such as biomethane and hydrogen, and fulfillment of Greek and EU decarbonisation targets.
The privatisation process, which was kicked off in 2020, had initially attracted interest from nine potential buyers, including Italgas and Czech EP Investment Advisors, which were the two parties that eventually lodged binding offers. Among the other preliminary suitors were US buyout firms KKR and Isquared Capital, the European infrastructure fund of Australian investment bank Macquarie, First State Investments - the asset management arm of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Hong Kong-based China Resources Gas Group.
DEPA Infrastructure owns 51% of the Thessaloniki - Thessalia Gas Distribution company, 100% of Attiki Natural Gas Distribution Single Member Company and 100% of Public Gas Distribution Networks, which are the three main gas grid operators in Greece, managing a pipeline network of 7,500 kilometres with about 600,000 redelivery points.
Italgas, which claims to be Europe's third-largest gas distributor, has a network of some 75,000 kilometres, which distributed roughly 9 billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas in 2021.
($ = 1.00827 euro)