Mergers & Acquisitions

Since liberalisation began, numerous mergers and acquisitions have taken place both between municipal utilities and also between regional suppliers and integrated utilities.

Whilst exorbitant strategic prices were paid for acquisitions during the peak of M&A activities, the prices paid now are much lower.

On the one hand, there are few companies in the market whose shares are being sold at all, because the pressure to act among municipal owners is still not strong enough. On the other hand, the anti-trust authorities are now much more restrictive when the buyer is one of the "Big Four" or its shareholdings.

The future will see a resurgence of M&A activity driven in part by financial investors.

The relevant M&A transactions also affect investments in power stations, in distribution and transmission grids, and in municipal utilities.