French energy giant TotalEnergies has agreed to purchase a 50% stake in a major European power generation portfolio for approximately €5.1 billion, a move that will also make the seller a significant shareholder in the French company.
The transaction involves TotalEnergies acquiring half of Czech billionaire Daniel Křetínský’s power generation assets through his company Energetický a průmyslový holding (EPH). In exchange, Křetínský will receive approximately 4.1% of TotalEnergies’ share capital, positioning EPH among the French energy firm’s largest investors.
The deal establishes a new 50/50 joint venture that includes multiple power generation facilities across the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, and Italy. The UK assets alone have capacity to supply electricity to more than three million households, including the Lynemouth power station in Northumberland and the Kilroot facility in Northern Ireland.
For TotalEnergies, Europe’s leading gas supplier, the acquisition provides strategic integration opportunities between its liquefied natural gas operations and power generation capabilities. The company’s leadership emphasized the transaction would enhance value creation across their gas-to-power chain independent of oil market fluctuations.
Křetínský, whose investment portfolio includes significant stakes in various European retail and industrial companies, expressed strong interest in becoming a long-term anchor shareholder in TotalEnergies through this partnership.
In a separate development within the UK energy sector, Eclipse Power Networks, part of the Octopus Group, has acquired approximately twenty electricity distribution projects from Swedish energy company Vattenfall. This transaction marks Vattenfall’s complete exit from the UK electricity distribution market, though the company continues to operate its British wind energy assets.
