Romanian gas carrier partners Spanish group to buy Greek peer

Romanian state-owned gas carrier Transgaz wants to partner with Spanish gas transporter Reganosa to participate in the privatization process of Greek gas network operator DESFA. The Romanian company’s shareholders will decide in their next meeting on January 18 on the proposed agreement between Transgaz and Reganosa for buying 66% of DESFA. The Spanish group will lead the consortium. In June 2017, Transgaz made an agreement with French group GRTgas to make a joint bid for DESFA, but their consortium didn’t qualify to the second round of the privatization process. Reganosa competes against an international consortium made of Snam (Italy)/Enagas Internacional (Spain)/ Fluxys (Belgium)/ Nederlandse Gasunie (Netherlands). It may thus be looking for other partners as well to increase its negotiation power in this deal, which is estimated at some EUR 400 million. DESDFA had a turnover of EUR 170 million and a net profit of EUR 34 million in 2016. Its fixed assets are worth some EUR 1.3 billion. editor@romania-insider.com