OREANDA-NEWS. E.ON SE and VNG - Verbundnetz Gas Aktiengesellschaft (VNG) - have sold their 50-percent stakes in Erdgasversorgungsgesellschaft ThЁ№ringen-Sachsen mbH (EVG), Erfurt. The sale is part of E.ON and VNG's ongoing strategy of optimizing their business portfolios. The buyer is the First State European Diversified Infrastructure Fund (EDIF) managed by First State Investments, the asset management arm of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. In 2013 EDIF acquired Nuremberg-based Ferngas Nordbayern GmbH. The sale is subject to antitrust approval. Germany's Federal Cartel Office is expected to issue its decision in the next few weeks. VNG, E.ON, and First State Investments agreed not to disclose the purchase price.

EVG owns the gas grid operated by Erdgastransportgesellschaft ThЁ№ringen-Sachsen mbH (ETG). EVG is the holding company for ETG and also owns minority stakes in several energy suppliers and service providers. EVG was founded on April 10, 1990, before Germany's economic and currency union. The former Ruhrgas AG and VNG each took 50-percent stakes in the new company, whose mission was to establish a region-wide gas supply business in the German state of Thuringia and surrounding areas.