German E.ON Ruhrgas, the soon to be owner of natural gas distribution company Distrigaz Nord, has hired the Roland Berger Strategy Consultants advisory firm for the restructuring of the company it is to take over, sources close to the deal told Ziarul Financiar. Roland Berger is specialised in management consulting.
Ruhrgas signed the contract for the takeover of 51% in Distrigaz Nord last October in a deal worth 303 million euros.
The German company agreed to pay 125 million euros for the direct acquisition of 30% in the gas distributor from the Romanian state and to raise its capital by a further 178 million euros in order to take over the majority stake.
The value of the advisory contract amounts to several hundred thousand euros, sources say.
The consultants will work to integrate the Romanian gas distributor into the structure of the German group, something that will require a complete reorganisation since the gas supply activities will be separated from distribution.
The separation of the supply and distribution activities, which will also take place on an accounting level, is stipulated in the European Gas Directive and will become compulsory as soon as Romania joins the European Union in 2007.
Ruhrgas officials announced as early as last year their intention to implement a sales employee training policy at Distrigaz Nord using a model developed in the west and in Romania by the private gas distributor Congaz Constanta. Ruhrgas owns around 28% in Congaz; the remaining stock is held by Petrom, Distrigaz Sud, Petroconst Constanta and in smaller amounts by local councils of several localities in Constanta County.
The representatives of the German company decided to retain the local management at Distrigaz Nord and have announced that there is no talk of important layoffs from the existing staff of over 9,000 employees.
Ruhrgas, part of German utilities group E.ON - the second largest in Europe - owns gas companies throughout the Central and Eastern Europe region, including the Czech Republic, Hungary and the Baltic states.
Distrigaz Nord will become part of the German group by the end of March. By that time, Ruhrgas will have transferred the money to the Romanian state and the company.
The German group will soon sign the contract for privatisation of electrical power distributor in Moldova. The total value of the deal is put at 100 million euros and will give the German group 51% in the company. After this goes through, the German group will have a monopoly of gas and electrical power distribution in Moldova, one of the poorest regions of Romania. adrian.mirsanu@zf.ro
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