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published NOVEMBER 11, 2009

Freshfields advises E.ON on €1.1bn sale of high-voltage transmission network to TenneT

International law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has advised energy provider E.ON AG on the sale of a high-voltage transmission network in Germany to state-owned Dutch network operator TenneT. The purchase price has been provisionally set at €1.1 billion. The transaction is subject to approval by the anti-trust authorities and is expected to be finalised in early 2010. TenneT will acquire all shares of E.ON subsidiary transpower which owns and operates the E.ON extra high-voltage transmission network (220/380 kV) with a total length of approximately 11,000 kilometres. transpower was carved out from E.ON Netz in 2009 when the latter was divided into two separate entities in order to meet a commitment made to the EU Commission. The German regional distribution grids, which form by far the largest part of the E.ON network business, are not affected by the sale. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer advised E.ON on the carve-out of the network operation business as well as the subsequent sale to TenneT. The sale represents a further step in implementing the commitment E.ON made to the European Commission in 2008 to sell generation capacity and its high-voltage transmission network in Germany, in order to further stimulate competition within Europe’s energy market. With this latest transaction, E.ON has agreements in place to sell 4,800 MW of power station capacity to French GDF Suez, Belgian Electrabel, German EnBW and Austrian Verbund, as well as the agreement to sell the high-voltage network in Germany to TenneT. Freshfields has advised E.ON on all of these transactions. The Freshfields team advising on the sale was led by Düsseldorf corporate partner Anselm Raddatz and included fellow corporate partner Axel Epe, corporate counsel Ralph Kogge and partners Andreas Röhling and Ulrich Scholz (both competition/energy). The team advising on the division of E.ON Netz was led by partner Barbara Keil and included fellow partners Eberhard Seydel (both corporate) and Christoph Brenzinger (real estate). In the transaction, Freshfields once again worked closely with E.ON’s in-house team, which comprised Frank Fischer (Head of Legal M&A E.ON AG), Michael Moser (Legal M&A E.ON AG), Mario Pohlmann (Head of antitrust law & energy law E.ON AG), Francesca Dimitra Cambas (Head of antitrust law & energy law E.ON AG) and Elmar Killing (Legal E.ON Energie).