Total on Monday confirmed that it signed an agreement with Prague-based energy company EPH to acquire two gas power plants from Uniper France's portfolio.
Earlier on Monday, Uniper and EPH announced that they entered into exclusive negotiations for the sale of Uniper's activities in France.
"Following the transaction announced today between Uniper France and EPH, that remains subject to approval by the relevant authorities, Total confirms that it has signed an agreement with EPH to acquire as from 1 January 2020 the two gas power plants from Uniper France's portfolio which represent a capacity of 828 megawatts (MW)," read a statement from Total.
The energy giant said the transaction was in line with its low-carbon electricity strategy. The parties did not disclose the total value of the deal.
Previously, Uniper said it received a unilateral binding offer from EPH through its wholly-owned subsidiary EP Power Europe, and that it agreed to negotiate with EPH which wants to acquire all activities and assets of Uniper in France.
"The next step now is a mandatory consultation process with the employees’ representative bodies to be initiated in January. Only then a possible transaction can be concluded," a statement said.
Uniper added that the exploratory process for a possible sale of its activities was initiated as part of a strategic review of the French business, which was communicated in August.
"The decision of the Uniper Board to enter into exclusive negotiations with EPH represents an important milestone in this context," it said.
Uniper's portfolio in France includes two gas-fired power plants with around 400 MW each in Saint-Avold (Lorraine), two hard coal plants, each with around 600 MW, located in Saint-Avold and Gardanne (Provence), a 150-MW biomass power plant "Provence 4 Biomasse" located in Gardanne, as well as wind and solar power plants with a combined capacity of around 100 MW.
Uniper supplies electricity and gas products to industrial and commercial customers and also offers energy-related services in this segment. The contribution of Uniper France to the overall Uniper group net income in 2017 was a low single-digit million Euro amount, according to Uniper's statement.
By Hale Turkes
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr