Essent and Nuon terminate merger process
This is a joint press release by Essent and Nuon
Essent and Nuon terminate merger process
Amsterdam/Arnhem, 7 September 2007 - The Management Boards and Supervisory Boards of Essent and Nuon have decided that there is no longer a basis for continuing the merger process. Consequently, the merger process has been called off.
In the last few months Essent and Nuon have jointly examined how the proposed merger of the two companies should take shape. Despite the cooperative attitude of both companies during this process, in the end no agreement could be reached on the process of verification of the underlying business data and the corresponding exchange ratio.
The Management Boards and Supervisory Boards of Essent and Nuon have come to the conclusion that the conditions for successfully completing the merger are currently not present. Essent and Nuon regret this development.
Essent and Nuon remain two strong Dutch energy companies that will continue, independently of each other, to play an important role in the Dutch energy supply. The companies will individually assess the strategic consequences of this development.
About Essent
With an annual revenue of EUR 6.4 billion in 2006, Essent is the Netherlands’ largest energy company. Essent supplies electricity, gas and heat to private and business customers. Essent is vertically integrated, meaning that its operations cover the entire length of the energy chain, from generating energy (excluding exploration and extraction), to supplying of products and services to the end-user. While regarding the Netherlands as its home market, the company has established a significant presence on the German market and is increasingly active in Belgium. The environmental branch of the enterprise processes waste into energy and residual energy. Essent has a workforce of approximately 10,000 people. Essent’s principal shareholders are the provinces of Noord-Brabant, Limburg, Overijssel, Groningen, the Association of Municipal Shareholders Limburg (VEGAL), the Association of Municipal Shareholders Noord-Nederland (VEGANN), the municipalities of Den Bosch and Tilburg. For more information: www.essent.nl
About Nuon
Nuon is a leading energy company that serves customers in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany with electricity, gas, heating and related services. The company is active in the production, trading, transport and supply of (renewable) energy. Nuon pursues balanced growth for all stakeholders: shareholders, employees, customers, the environment and society. Total net turnover in 2006 was EUR 5.6 billion. The number of employees at the end of 2006 was 9,768 FTEs. The larger shareholders of Nuon are the provinces of Gelderland and Noord-Holland, the municipality of Amsterdam and BV Houdstermaatschappij Falcon whose shares are held by the province of Friesland. For more information: www.nuon.com.
For more information, please contact:
Essent, Jeroen Brouwers, spokesman
Tel.: 026 - 851 13 57 or Essent Media Relaties, tel.: 0800 - 02 44 022, e-mail: mediarelaties@essent.nl
Nuon, Bart Sikking, spokesman
Tel.: 020 - 597 42 00, e-mail: mediarelaties@nuon.com
Published: 07 September 2007