Czech Sev.en GI agrees to buy AES's 51% stake in Vietnamese power plant (updated)

AES

30/11/2023 12:00

(Adds details of acquisition, background)
    By Jan Lopatka
       PRAGUE, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Czech privately-held Sev.en
Global Investments on Thursday said it will buy a majority stake
in a large coal-fired plant in Vietnam from U.S. energy firm AES
Corp  AES.N .
    The purchase of 51% of the 1.2 gigawatt Mong Duong 2 will
help AES's plan to divest its coal assets and mark Sev.en GI's
first expansion into Asia, making it a major foreign investor in
Vietnam.
    "After establishing our presence in Europe, North America,
and Australia, we are now entering the 4th continent - Asia,"
Sev.en GI Chief Executive Alan Svoboda said in a press release.
    "As an experienced owner and operator of similar power
plants we are proud to take over the operator role from AES."
    The price of the deal, which will close following approval
by Vietnamese authorities, was not revealed.
    South Korean energy firm Posco International  047050.KS ,
had planned to sell its 30% stake in Mong Duong 2 in 2021 but a
deal valuing the plant at more than $600 million collapsed.
    Sev.en GI said it was committed to the plant's existing
build, operate, transfer (BOT) contract, which would see
ownership transferred to the Vietnamese state by 2040, a quarter
of a century after it began operations.
    Ultimately owned by Czech billionaire Pavel Tykac, Sev.en GI
has shifted its focus abroad, mainly to the United States and
Australia as coal asset prices drop amid a global trend to phase
them out.
    Tykac, valued by Forbes at $8 billion, told Reuters in May
he still saw opportunities in the sector before fossil fuels are
abandoned.
    Posco told Reuters earlier this month it was again
considering selling its stake, while a source close to the deal
said Sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corporation (CIC),
which owns the remaining 19% stake in the plant, could also
sell. 

 (Reporting by Jan Lopatka; Editing by Sharon Singleton, Kirsten
Donovan)
 ((jan.lopatka@thomsonreuters.com; +420 234 721 614; Reuters
Messaging: jan.lopatka.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))