The Innogy and SSE joint venture sale is hesitating

Essen / London (APA / Reuters) – The UK joint venture, already almost certain between RWE subsidiary Innogy and its competitor SSE, is again staggering. The companies announced renegotiations Thursday night. Indeed, since the announcement of November 2017, market conditions have deteriorated. In addition, new regulatory interventions have occurred.

SSE said the deal would not be finalized as planned during the first quarter of next year. Innogy added that the discussions could generate additional direct or indirect financial contributions for each party. "The parties pursue the goal of merging the relevant businesses and listing the new company on the London Stock Exchange."

The UK market is very competitive. In addition to competition, companies are also hampered by political interference, such as price caps. The UK's CMA competition authority approved the plans of the two utilities a month ago.

Innogy announced that the new company should be listed on the premium segment of the London Stock Exchange. Innogy will hold a 34.4% minority stake in the new company. SSE intends to transfer the 65.6% stake in the transaction by way of a split to its own shareholders.

The plans of the joint venture were former Innogy boss Peter Terium. He had been trying for a long time to correct the situation at the British subsidiary Npower, which had suffered losses for years and caused billing problems as well as customer losses. E.ON is another competitor in the UK market and intends to resume the Innogy sales and network business by the end of next year.

~ ISIN DE000A2AADD2 WEB https://www.innogy.com/~ APA584 2018-11-08 / 20: 32