This year, “Latvijas gāze” started the process of selling “Gaso”, because according to the current regulation, “Gaso” cannot be managed by Russian or Belarusian shareholders, but “Latvijas gāze” has shareholders representing the Russian state.
At the end of June, the Competition Council (KP) allowed “Eesti Gaas” to gain decisive influence over “Gaso”. KP did not find significant damage to competition, so it allowed the implementation of the transaction.
After evaluating the information provided by the companies and at the disposal of the KP, the KP concluded that the market structure will not change significantly as a result of the merger, competition will not decrease and a dominant position will not be created or strengthened in the affected markets in Latvia, therefore the merger transaction is permissible.
In a statement to the Nasdaq Riga stock exchange, “Latvijas gāze” states that “Eesti Gaas” has received permission from the KP and also the Latvian government to purchase “Gaso”. The cost of this transaction exceeds 120 million euros.
Gaso’s revenue last year was 52.46 million euros, which is 11.3% less than in 2021, and the company suffered a loss of 1.751 million euros, as opposed to the profit a year earlier.
“Gasso” is the only natural gas distribution system operator in Latvia. The company provides security of natural gas networks, technical services and accounting of natural gas consumption. “Gaso” was established at the end of 2017, separating the operation of the distribution system of “Latvijas gas” and fulfilling the requirements of the European Union and the state for ensuring the independence of the natural gas distribution system. The company’s share capital is EUR 39.9 million, according to “Firmas.lv” information.
The sole shareholder of “Gaso” is “Latvijas gāze”. On the other hand, the largest shareholders of “Latvijas gas” are Russia’s “Gazprom” (34%), the fund “Marguerite Gas II.Sarl” (28.97%), the German company “Uniper Ruhrgas International GmbH” (18.26%) and SIA “Itera Latvia (16%).
At the same time, the sole shareholder of “Eesti Gaas” is the Estonian investment company “Infortar”, which belongs to Estonian businessmen Ain Hanšmit, Enna Pant and Kalev Jervelilla.
Infortar operates in five countries, and the company’s main areas of activity are energy, freight transportation and real estate. The balance sheet of “Infortar” reaches 1.1 billion euros. The “Infortar” concern includes a total of 47 companies, among which “Infortar” owns 41% of “Tallink Grupp”, 100% of “Eesti Gaas”, as well as a diverse real estate portfolio.
2023-07-17 14:00:00
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