Oppenhoff advises EnBW and RheinEnergie on the sale of their MVV shares to First State Investments

Oppenhoff & Partner has advised RheinEnergie AG and EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG on the sale of their total shareholding of 45.1 percent in the listed energy supply company MVV Energie AG. The buyers and thus new major shareholders will be funds managed by the international asset management company First State Investments. The transaction still has to be approved by the relevant supervisory and antitrust authorities. First State has announced a voluntary public takeover bid to the outside shareholders.

The transaction was initiated in cooperation with MVV and the City of Mannheim as MVV's majority shareholder. The City of Mannheim will continue to hold a majority in the energy supplier with 50.1 percent. EnBW has held a stake in MVV since 2004 with a current interest of 28.8 percent. RheinEnergie has been holding its current share of 16.3 percent since 2007. First State Investments has announced that it intends to remain committed to MVV in the long term.

Christof Gaudig, Partner at Oppenhoff and head of the firm's energy sector group commented: "The challenge in such a transaction is the coordination amongst the shareholders and the municipalities concerned, in particular the coordination of the municipal decision-making processes with the requirements of capital market law. Additionally, a signing in times of the corona crisis is something special in all respects.

The Oppenhoff team comprised Christof Gaudig (lead partner), Dr. Günter Seulen, Dr. Andreas Krebs (all corporate/M&A), Marc Krischer (tax), Stephan Müller (foreign trade law) and Dr. Daniel Dohrn (antitrust law; all Cologne).

Internally, Thomas Mertens (Head of Legal Department, RheinEnergie AG) and Martin Düker (Group Law, EnBW) advised respectively.
 

Media contact: Jan Bessling, Head of Marketing and Communication, T +49 221 2091-315, E [email protected]

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