OREANDA-NEWS. E.ON today signed agreements to sell its 73.3-percent stake in E.ON Mitte AG to a consortium of municipal shareholders. Under the agreement, E.ON will buy back energy retailer E.ON Mitte Vertrieb GmbH as well as other equity interests held by E.ON Mitte AG. Through this transaction, which is expected to conclude very shortly, E.ON will receive net cash proceeds of € 610 million.

The sale of its stake in E.ON Mitte marks the successful conclusion of E.ON's reorganization of its German regional utility business. E.ON now has four remaining regional utilities in Germany: Avacon, Bayernwerk, E.DIS, and E.ON Hanse. In mid-2012 E.ON announced that it would focus on these four companies so that it could invest more effectively and efficiently as it helps to deliver the transformation of Germany's energy system.

Ingo Luge, CEO of E.ON Deutschland, said of the signing: “Our extensive negotiations with the municipal shareholders, which were conducted in a consistently constructive and trusting atmosphere, achieved a positive result for both sides. We're pleased to be leaving E.ON Mitte's modern, reliable power and gas networks in good hands.”

E.ON Mitte operates around 45,000 kilometers of power lines and around 4,800 kilometers of gas pipelines in large sections of Hesse as well as in parts of eastern Westphalia, western Thuringia, and southern Lower Saxony. The Kassel-based company employs around 1,300 people.

The sale of E.ON Mitte does not affect power and gas customers in the network operator's service territory. In most of this service territory E.ON Mitte Vertrieb is the public utility provider and thus the energy supplier for most customers.