CEZ Energy Group has sold most of its Romanian assets to Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (MIRA). The companies have signed an agreement. The deal is subject to the approval of the European Antitrust Authority and the Romanian State Security Council. The company did not disclose the price.
The sale includes a total of seven companies, including a distribution company, energy sales, and the Fântânele Cogealac wind farm. CEZ will retain its High-Tech Clima company and the trading company CEZ Trade Romania in Romania.
ČEZ’s investment team at Société Générale, together with the Czech team of Komerční Banka and the Romanian team of BRD – Groupe Société Générale, were ČEZ’s exclusive advisors in the sale. “MIRA’s offer was the most attractive of all the bids submitted, which was confirmed by an independent assessment of the value of the companies sold,” the spokeswoman said.
The sale is in line with ČEZ’s new strategy, approved last June. It counts on the gradual sale of assets in Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey, and Poland. An exception is companies focused on ESCOs, which ČEZ wants to develop at home and abroad. According to earlier information, the company intends to obtain tens of billions of crowns from foreign companies’ sales, which it will use to construct renewable energy sources, new nuclear units, and to modernize its distribution network.
CEZ’s expansion abroad has been repeatedly described as unsuccessful by Prime Minister Andrej Babis. The majority owner of ČEZ is the state, which owns 70 percent of its shares through the Ministry of Finance. The company entered the Romanian energy market in 2005 with the acquisition of the distribution company Electrica Oltenia, which operates in the southwestern part of the country. Between 2008 and 2012, ČEZ built the largest onshore wind farm in Europe with a capacity of 600 megawatts in Romania in the Fântânele and Cogealac locations. Also, in 2011 it purchased and modernized the system of four dam reservoirs and small hydroelectric power plants Reşita.
MIRA is part of the Macquarie Group, a global banking provider, financial and advisory services, and investment fund management. MIRA is the part of Macquarie that manages assets. Since 2017, the Australian bank Macquarie fund has also owned a 31 percent stake in EP Infrastructure (EPIF), which is one of the main components of the Energy and Industrial Holding (EPH) entrepreneur Daniel Křetínský. The Group is also a shareholder of České Radiokomunikace.