OREANDA-NEWS. January 17, 2013. E.ON SE, Dusseldorf, has signed an agreement with Czech energy company Energeticky a Prumyslovy Holding (EPH) for the sale of its indirectly held interest in Slovakian energy company Slovensky Plynarensky Priemysel a.s. (SPP). The purchase price for the 24.5-percent stake is €1.3 billion.

Together with GDF Suez, E.ON has held an interest in SPP via Slovak Gas Holding (SGH) since the partial privatization of the Slovak gas industry in 2002. EPH will acquire 100 percent of the share capital of SGH.

Johannes Teyssen, CEO of E.ON SE: “The sale of the SPP stake has enabled us to reach our divestment target well ahead of schedule. Our refocus in Europe has been conducted swiftly and has generated very attractive proceeds. But even after the sale of SPP we’ll remain active in the Slovak energy market, where we supply roughly one million customers and operate a power distribution grid over 35,000 kilometers in length through our stake in Zapadoslovenska energetika (ZSE).”

Slovensky Plynarensky Priemysel is an international energy company that is fully integrated in the European gas pipeline system. Based in Bratislava, SPP has approximately 4,000 employees.

The divestment is to be finalized in the next few weeks.