Spanish Investor Asterion Industrial Partners Acquires Germany’s Fifth Largest Energy Group Steag

The Spanish investor Asterion Industrial Partners takes over the fifth largest German energy group Steag. Asterion and the Steag owner consortium announced on Friday that the company should be retained as a whole. The group from the Ruhr area should be developed into a sustainable energy supplier with its own climate-friendly capacities. In the course of the transaction, Steag was valued at around EUR 2.6 billion. Asterion prevailed against a consortium consisting of the RAG Foundation with the holding EPH of the Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky.

The Spaniards announced that they would significantly expand the Iqony division through investments in green technologies such as solar and wind energy, but also in district heating and electricity. With the deal, Asterion is further expanding its presence in the European energy sector and is now also represented in Germany in addition to Spain, France, Italy and Great Britain. “With an energy mix in which gas plays a role alongside coal, security of supply can be guaranteed during the transition phase,” said Asterion boss Jesús Olmos. The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

Steag is divided into two areas – the black area Steag Power with the coal-fired power plants and the green area called Iqony, which includes renewable energies. In 2021, Steag achieved a total turnover of 2.8 billion euros. Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) amounted to 234 million euros. Steag employs around 5,700 people. The owner is the municipal holding company KSBG, in which six municipal utilities from the Ruhr area have bundled their Steag shares. These are Stadtwerke Duisburg, Dortmund, Bochum, Essen, Oberhausen and Dinslaken. KSBG has been the sole shareholder of the company since 2014.