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In addition, Verbund assumes 165.9 million euros in liabilities that GCA has with OMV. The closure is scheduled for 2021, the association announced Wednesday.
The purchase price results in a GCA pipeline operator’s business value of € 980 million for 100 percent of the company debt free. In OMV, the sale will mean a debt reduction of more than 570 million euros, which will have a positive effect on the group’s leverage, OMV said in a press release this Wednesday.
In accordance with the terms and conditions, Verbund will pay OMV a total of 436.9 million euros, depending on the level of liability at the time of closing.
The signing of the agreement should take place today. The acquisition has no effect on Verbund’s guidance for 2020 as the transaction will not be completed until 2021, after official approvals and approvals have been obtained.
With the sale, OMV continues its strategy of withdrawing from the regulated gas transportation business and seeking active portfolio management to continue growing profitably. The gas trading and storage business remains an essential part of OMV’s portfolio, the group said Wednesday.
For the association as owner and operator of critical infrastructure, the acquisition of GCA shares will result in an improvement in the business profile and a positive development of key figures, above all, an optimal positioning in relation to the coupling of the sector with optionality for a future hydrogen economy, he said.
In mid-March, OMV and Verbund announced that they were negotiating the sale of 51 percent of OMV’s GCA shares to Verbund. In mid-June, the association announced that it was making a binding offer.
In 2016, a consortium made up of Italian gas network operator SNAM and German Allianz Capital Partners paid € 601 million for the other 49 percent of GCA.
