EnBW expresses interest in acquiring more MVV shares
Increasing its stake would be sensible for the city, federal state and both companies from a strategic and energy industry related point of view
Karlsruhe. EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG has again expressed its general interest in acquiring the city shares for sale of the regional supplier MVV Energie in a recent letter it sent to the Mayor of Mannheim Gerhard Widder. EnBW currently has a 15 percent stake in MVV and can imagine increasing this stake as a strategic partner. EnBW fully respects the request made by the city of Mannheim that it wants to hold on to a majority stake in MVV even after it has sold its block of shares, because just like MVV the municipality also has a majority stake of about 50 percent in EnBW.
Due to the close proximity, a strategic partnership between the two municipal energy companies MVV and EnBW could moreover result in synergies to create added value and the competitive positions of the two companies being strengthened. For this reason, EnBW has indicated to the Mayor of Mannheim that it wants to give this potential added value appropriate consideration if it makes an offer, so that the city, its citizens, the federal state and both energy companies would be able to benefit from it. In view of these possible advantages, EnBW assumes that the city of Mannheim will hold open discussions with all interested parties and will not reach premature agreements with individual bidders, which would ultimately have a negative impact on the values and the finances of the city and its citizens.
The competition law related restrictions imposed on EnBW in 2004 in relation to a further increase of its MVV stake should be reconsidered and reassessed based on the new situation. “If it is considered possible for E.on to indirectly become a shareholder of MVV again as a result of a possible share acquisition of Mainova, even though it was forced to sell its shares in 2004 for antitrust law related reasons following its takeover of Ruhrgas, then it should definitely be possible for EnBW to also increase its stake,” said Dr. Bernhard Beck, a member of the EnBW Board of Management who is responsible for legal issues.