EP UK Investments (EPUKI), a subsidiary of Daniel Kretinsky’s EPH Group, has acquired Humbly Grove Energy. Which owns and operates an underground gas storage facility in Hampshire, England. The company was purchased from Petronas Energy Trading Limited.
“With this acquisition, the EPH Group is further expanding its portfolio of underground gas storage facilities, which it already owns in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Germany,” the holding said on its website. EPUKI is a wholly-owned subsidiary of EP Power Europe (EPPE). EPPE, together with the EP Infrastructure Group (EPIF), is one of the main pillars of EPH.
EPIF also holds shares in the Slovak companies Nafta and Pozagas, as well as in SPP Storage, which operates an underground gas storage facility in Dolní Bojanovice in the Hodonín area. 56% of the shares are held by SPP Infrastructure. It is a joint venture of the Slovak state and EPIF. Slovakia holds a 51 percent stake in SPP Infrastructure and the remaining 49 percent EPIF. Another 40 percent of Nafta’s shares are controlled by EPIF independently.
In 2019, Nafta announced the purchase of three underground gas storage facilities in Bavaria from DEA Deutsche Erdoel AG and Storengy Deutschland GmbH through its subsidiary Nafta Bavaria GmbH.
EPIF brings together EPH companies involved in the transportation, distribution, and storage of natural gas, electricity distribution, and heat production. EPPE includes mainly foreign electricity producers and mining companies. Kretinsky became the majority owner of EPH in 2017, which now holds 94 percent of the shares.