Energy, EU – Baltic States, Investments, Legislation, Lithuania

The Lithuanian Competition Council on Monday received Danpower Baltic's application for clearance of its acquisition of 100% of shares in Marivas.

"We expect to close the deal by the end of this year. The formalities with the competition body need to be completed," Danpower Group Managing Director Manfred Schuele told BNS.

According to the managing director, Danpower decided to buy the heating plants because they fit into its business model. The company operates medium and small-sized heating plants.

"The size of the projects in Lithuania fits into our business model," he told BNS.

Danpower Baltic signed the deal with the Dutch investment fund Green Environment Fund I on the acquisition of Marivas on October 1.

Marivas owns two heating plants in Vilnius and one in Kaunas via two subsidiary companies.

Virginijus Strioga, CEO of the energy group E-Energija, says that following Danpower's acquisition of the companies linked to Icor, a Lithuania-based conglomerate with holdings in the energy, utilities, real estate and entertainment industries, the market will become more transparent.

According to Strioga, the Germans are buying two of Vilnius' three independent suppliers and both of these suppliers are related to Vilniaus Energija (Vilnius Energy), the capital's largest heat producer, which also owns biofuel supply companies.

"It (the market) will become more transparent in terms of relations with the heat supplier (Vilniaus Energija)," he told BNS.

Schuele told BNS that he had heard about the Lithuanian energy market regulator's probes into links between Marivas and Vilniaus Energija, but said that Danpower was entering the market in a transparent way.

Danpower Baltic last week completed the construction of a 25 MW biomass heating plant in Vilnius, in which it has invested 10 million euros. Also, it built a 25MW a biomass CHP plant in Kaunas earlier this year.