Eneco to Buy Eni's Belgian Retail Arm

Italy's Eni agreed March 31 to divest to its gas and power retail operations in Belgium to leading Netherlands energy supplier Eneco.

Eneco will acquire outright both Eni Gas & Power in Belgium, which supplies 850,000 gas and power customer accounts and has a retail market share of 10%, and the Eni Wind Belgium business and will rebrand both under its own name.

Following the acquisition, Eneco will supply more than 1mn households and 55,000 business customers in Belgium, making it one of the country’s top three retail energy suppliers, having started operations in Belgium in August 2011. Neither it nor Eni provided financial details of the transaction.

Eneco chief growth officer Kees-Jan Rameau said it wants to grow in several northwest European countries including Belgium (Photo credit: Eneco)

Eni acquired a 57.24% stake in Distrigas in 2009 for €2.74bn and subsequently bought out other shareholders in the business. Other assets – including infrastructure stakes such as in Interconnector UK – have been divested since by Eni. However, the key gas and LNG supply & trading business of Distrigas – including wholesale contracts to large end-users – remains fully integrated in Eni.

Engie-owned Electrabel and EDF-owned Luminus are the other top three retailers in Belgium. The Eni Gas & Power retail business in Belgium was formed in 2012 following the merger of Distrigas and Nuon Belgium. 

Two years ago Eneco agreed to buy Danish firm Dong's retail business in the Netherlands, Eneco's home market. 

Eneco Belgium says it supplies 100% renewable and locally-produced electricity through its 86 wind turbines and 250,000 solar panels. In 2018 Eneco will start building Norther, Belgian’s biggest offshore windfarm. 

Mark Smedley