EP Infrastructure sells Pražská teplárenská to Veolia group
7. 9. 2020
EP Infrastructure, a.s. (EPIF) announces the sale of its 100% share in Pražská teplárenská, a.s., its subsidiaries and PT Transit, a.s. (further as Pražská teplárenská or PT) held through EP Energy (EPE). The transaction still needs to be approved by the Czech Office for the Protection of Competition.
„The divestment decision about Pražská teplárenská was triggered by Veolia´s serious strategic interest. In the context of our long-standing cooperation with Veolia, our partnership agreement on development of low-emission heat generation sources for it use as well as Veolia´s quality as a heating network operator, we finally agreed with the divestment. We are handing Pražská teplárenská over to good hands of an investor who is going to operate the network responsibly and under conditions attractive to customers,” says Daniel Křetínský, Chairman of the Board of Directors of EPIF.
„This acquisition is fully coherent with the strategy of Veolia group for Central and Eastern Europe where Veolia has already concluded multiple long-term partnerships tailored to local needs. It is another successful step in the group´s strategic development in Prague enabling us to interconnect our activities in water management and energy,” said Philippe Guitard, Veolia´s Senior Executive Vice President for Central and Eastern Europe.
Pražská teplárenská, a.s. operates the largest district heating network in the Czech Republic (550 km, 230,000 households). It supplies heat for the right-bank part of Prague; in 2019, its operational profit reached approximately CZK 5 billion and the company employed 411 people.
The sole shareholder in EPE is EPIF group, 69% of which is owned by Energetický a průmyslový holding, a.s. (EPH) and 31% by a consortium of global institutional investors managed by Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (MIRA).