Energy Transition

EDP and SSE 'merger talks end in knockback'

Portuguese utility initiated discussion but UK player declined to proceed, it is reported

EDP CEO Miguel Stilwell d'Andrade.
EDP CEO Miguel Stilwell d'Andrade.Photo: EDP
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Portuguese utility EDP opened talks with UK-based SSE over a merger deal that would have created a massively enlarged European renewable energy player, it is claimed.

The Portuguese group initiated the talks earlier this year and the two companies’ CEOs – EDP’s Miguel Stilwell d'Andrade and SSE’s Alistair Phillips-Davies – held discussions, reported Reuters citing three unnamed sources with knowledge of the matter.
The talks ended in June with London-listed SSE declining the proposal, said the financial news agency. EDP’s rationale included the creation of a “regionally broader asset portfolio”, claimed the Reuters report.

EDP is majority-owner of EDP Renewables, the global green power giant that has some 16GW of installed capacity including a major US portfolio, and is co-owner with Engie of the Ocean Winds offshore wind joint venture.

SSE is a major renewables developer in the UK and Ireland with an increasingly ambitious international agenda spanning markets as diverse as Poland and Japan, and an offshore wind portfolio that includes some of the world’s biggest projects such as Dogger Bank and Berwick Bank.

EDP and SSE both declined to comment to Reuters on the report.
The reported talks between EDP and SSE are the second such discussions involving renewable energy big hitters to reach the public domain this year. In January it emerged that RWE had in 2023 explored a potential takeover of Orsted before the approach was quoshed by the Danish government.
(Copyright)

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Published 16 October 2024, 07:39Updated 16 October 2024, 07:39
SSEEDP RenewablesEurope