Under the terms of the deal, the new joint ventre will acquire the stake in Mátra, from German groups RWE Power and EnBW which have 50.9% and 21.7% stake respectively.
Status Power Invest is controlled by the Hungarian investor Lorinc Mészáros.
The deal includes acquisition of majority stake in Hungary’s Matrai power plant located in the valley of the Mátra mountains, from RWE and EnBW. The Matrai plant’s other major shareholder is state-owned power wholesaler MVM.
With 960MW of installed generation capacity, the Mátra plant is supplied by opencast mines in Visonta and Bükkábrány. It is also supplied with biomass, photovoltaics and natural gas.
Said to be the second largest power plant after Paks nuclear power plant in Hungary, the Mátra plant output accounts to about 15% of the country's electricity.
RWE said that the sale is part of its strategy to focus on its core German, UK and Benelux markets for its generation business.
The company said: “The sale is in line with the restructuring of the portfolio of the company, which has been pursuing a resolute investment strategy oriented towards renewable energy since 2012.”
Meanwhile, EnBW said that the divestment involves its non-strategic interest.
The agreement, however, is subject to the approval of the relevant competition authorities as well as the Hungarian energy authority.
The deal is planned to be completed in the first quarter of 2018. Financial terms of the deal were undisclosed.
Image: The Mátra Power Plant in Hungary. Photo: courts of Civertan/Wikipedia.
