Finnish Fortum Group to Increase Stake in Lenenergo

Fortum, the Finnish energy concern, plans to increase its stake in Lenenergo to 15.7%. The Finnish company's website reveals that Fortum is planning to complete a deal to purchase a 9.3% stake in the Russian company from German energy concern E.ON Energiie. The size of the deal is not confirmed.

Dmitrii Kharinov, the head of Lenenergo's investor department, confirmed the move by Fortum to increase its stake in the Russian company in an interview with Rosbalt's correspondent. He said that Fortum and E.ON Energiie have exchanged energy assets in Northern Europe, including in Norway and Russia. The overall value of the deal is around EUR 800 million, said Kharinov, but he could not give an exact value for the stake in Lenenergo. However he said that E.ON and Fortum had already concluded an agreement to exchange energy assets.

Fortum was created in 1998 as a result of a merger of two Finnish companies - Imatran Voima and Neste. The company's activity extends right across the energy production process, from extracting raw materials to refining, including oil refining, and includes distribution and marketing, engineering, operating and maintenance work. Fortum's clients include international oil companies, various industrial sectors, cities and towns, energy companies, and individual consumers. It has an annual turnover of EUR 11 billion.

Lenenergo has a market capitalization of 897,363,000 roubles (USD 28.2 million). Its stock is divided into 766,035,008 ordinary shares and 131,328,000 privileged shares worth 1 rouble each. UES of Russia has a 49% stake in Lenenergo, 9.29% belongs to E.ON Energiie, over 6% to Fortum, and 3.03% to Rosbank.

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