State utilities company to acquire half of Elmu-Emasz universal service business on January 1
Budapest, December 1 (MTI) – Hungary’s state-owned utilities company ENKSZ is to acquire 50 percent of the universal service providing units of electricity distributors Elmu and Emasz on Jan. 1, 2016, the companies said.
The remaining half of the shares will be transferred on Jan. 1, 2017, if extraordinary general meetings of Elmu and Emasz, to be held on Dec. 21, approve the deal.
Universal service providers are companies that provide households with electricity using a price structure and level controlled by the state.
The Hungarian government signed a letter of intent on May 28, 2015 with Elmu and Emasz shareholders RWE AG, RWE Power AG and RWE Beteiligungs GmbH on the acquisition of their universal service businesses in Hungary.
In preparation of the deal, Elmu and Emasz shareholders approved on October 20 the transfer of their universal service providing divisions into a new jointly-owned company called Elmu-Emasz Ugyfelszolgalati. The company will acquire a permit to provide universal services in the areas served so far by Elmu and Emasz — Budapest and North Hungary, respectively — on December 1, the EGM invitations published on the Budapest Stock Exchange website on Monday showed.
Apart from Elmu and Emasz, the only other universal service providers in the field of electricity in Hungary are French-owned EDF Demasz and German-owned E.ON. ENKSZ launched services on the gas market last May, using Fogaz, also a former unit of RWE, as a bridgehead.
Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters