Kraftwerk Laufenburg Buys Dam Operator

Kraftwerk Laufenburg, a Swiss electricity producer that does most of its business in Germany, is buying the dam operator Rheinfelden from energy company Watt to focus on water power and cut costs.

Laufenburg bought Watt's sixty nine percent stake in the German company and will make an offer for the rest worth 305 euros ($279) a share, plus a right to buy one of its own shares. It is paying Watt, whose owners include E.ON and the Credit Suisse Group, some 388 million euros for the stake.

Laufenburg said that the deal announced yesterday, which also includes the sale of the Swiss units to Watt, helps simplify its ownership structure, saving some ten million euros a year. With the addition of Rheinfelden, Laufenburg can generate more electricity on the Rhine River to sell as higher priced energy to southern German clients, board member Martin Steiger said.

“Through this offer there will be an optimization of the operating and cost structure,” Steiger said on the sidelines of a press conference in Zurich. “Before, we had employees at our energy services unit working for four different owners. It took a long time to figure out billing and was very expensive.”

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