A consortium of Allianz Capital Partners (ACP), Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (MIRA) and Valtion Eläkerahasto (VER) has agreed to acquire electric grid operator Elenia and district heating network Elenia Lämpö (together Elenia) in Finland for an undisclosed price.
While Elenia is the second largest power distribution system operator in Finland, Elenia La¨mpo¨ is the ninth largest district heating network in the country, as per ACP.
The sellers of the two businesses are GS Infrastructure Partners, 3i Infrastructure, and Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Company.
Although, the total acquisition amount has not been disclosed, 3i Infrastructure has revealed that it will get gross proceeds of around £725m from the sale of its stake in Elenia.
While Allianz Group’s ACP and MIRA will hold 45% stakes each in Elenia,the remaining 10% will be held by VER, the state pension fund of Finland.
Elenia was established in 2012 to strengthen the Finnish power grids and heating operations of Swedish power company Vattenfall. Serving about 420,000 households, corporate and community customers, Elenia has operations in 100 municipalities in central Finland.
According to 3i Infrastructure, Elenia distributes power that covers an area of 69,000km while having a market share of around 12%. Elenia La¨mpo¨, on the other hand owns and operates 16 local district heating networks in the country, with its services spanning about 500km while catering to nearly 85,000 end-users.
ACP chief investment officer Christian Fingerle said: “Elenia represents an attractive opportunity for our customers and is fully aligned with our investment strategy of investing in core infrastructure assets.
“We look forward to working with Elenia’s management and our partners, MIRA and VER, to facilitate the continued delivery of high-quality service for Elenia’s customers.”
Post acquisition, the ACP consortium plans to carry on the current strategy of Elenia of modernizing and weatherproofing its electric distribution systems to give its customers a strong and state -of-the-art network in accordance with the Finnish Energy Authority’s stated targets.
The transaction, which will be subject to customary regulatory approvals, is anticipated to be completed in the first quarter of 2018.
Image: Elenia is considered to be the second largest electric distribution system operator in Finland. Photo: courtesy of Allianz.