PwC: Power and renewable deals total boosted

By Rob Starr, Content Manager, Big4.com

According to a new quarterly analysis by PwC of merger and acquisition activity in the European power and renewables sector, significant deal activity is taking place in the power and utilities sector, proving the deal lull in the first three months of 2012 was only temporary.

A flow of US$100m+transactions boosted total renewables deal value to US$1.6bn. Heading the transactions was Belgian company Electrawind’s US$538m reverse takeover of European Cleantech. Overseas interest in the European power sector during Q2 was centred primarily on the OGE sale and one big pipeline talking point will be the extent of reported Chinese nuclear companies’ interest in the sale of Horizon nuclear power project in the UK by E.ON and RWE.

“Much of the power deals total came from two transactions for gas network assets – Open Grid Europe (OGE) in Germany and Snam in Italy,” said Andrew McCrosson, partner, UK power and utilities, PwC. “This is a significant milestone in the unbundling of Europe’s power utilities and also a major step towards a very changed grid ownership landscape. Companies will be eyeing up opportunities to gain a greater share of the European gas transmission market.”

Overseas interest in the European power sector during Q2 was centred primarily on the OGE sale and one big pipeline talking point will be the extent of reported Chinese nuclear companies’ interest in the sale of Horizon nuclear power project in the UK by E.ON and RWE.