Brussels, 27/01/2011 (Agence Europe) - On 26 January, the European Commission authorised the purchase of the British energy group International Power Plc by the French group of the same sector, GDF Suez S.A. The latter will, however, have to sell off the 33% stake owned by International Power in T-Power, the owner of a Belgian power plant due to be operational later this year, and the operation and maintenance contract for the plant.
The operation, as notified on 29 November last year, would have put this power plant into the stable of Electrabel, the Belgian subsidiary of GDF Suez, which is already extremely dominant on the Belgian energy market. This means that GDF Suez would have been able to use sensitive information available to it regarding the power station and its discretion over the operation of the plant to raise electricity prices on the Belgian wholesale market. This would have particularly affected Electrabel's direct competitor, Essent Belgium, a subsidiary of the German group RWE, which concluded an agreement with T-Power providing for the plant's production to be sold exclusively to it for 15 years.
In light of the commitments offered, the Commission concluded that the operation would not significantly restrict free competition within the European Economic Area. (F.G./transl.fl)