Latvijas Gaze shareholders approve company split

Latvijas Gaze AS

22/03/2016 16:14

RIGA, March 22 (Reuters) - Shareholders in Latvian gas 
utility Latvijas Gaze  GZE1R.RI  on Tuesday approved a decision 
to split the company in two, in line with a European Union 
directive requiring the separation of energy supply and 
generation from transmission networks. 
    Latvia is the last of the three Baltic states to implement 
the 'unbundling'. Parliament decided in February that Latvijas 
Gaze, 34 percent owned by Russia's Gazprom  GAZP.MM , should be  
split by the end of 2017 to open the gas market for competition. 
    The plan approved by parliament called for setting up a 
separate company to take over the gas transmission and storage 
business of Latvijas Gaze from April next year. 
    Latvijas Gaze said the decision to split was adopted by a 
majority of shareholders. 
    Other shareholders are the Marguerite Fund, the EU's 
infrastructure investment fund, with 28 percent, Germany's 
Uniper Ruhrgas with 18 percent, and Latvian gas trader Itera 
Latvia with 16 percent. 
    A spokesman for the utility said about half of all assets 
will be placed in the new transmission and storage company. The 
gas-producing shareholders are expected to divest their stakes 
in the new entity at a later stage.  
    Latvijas Gaze, which imports and sells pipeline gas from 
Russia and provides the region's only underground gas storage, 
reported net profit for 2015 of 30.5 million euros compared with 
30.1 million euros a year earlier. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nFWN165065 
 
 (Reporting by Gederts Gelzis; Writing by Nerijus Adomaitis; 
Editing by Mark Trevelyan) 
 ((nerijus.adomaitis@thomsonreuters.com; +47 9027 6699; Reuters 
Messaging: nerijus.adomaitis.thomsonreuters@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: LATVIJAS GAZE RESTRUCTURING/