Mott MacDonald supports Allianz with due diligence in utilities sector
Allianz Capital Partners commissioned Mott MacDonald to provide a range of advisory services as part of the due diligence for a deal to acquire a 30% stake in Romanian electricity and gas distribution giant Delgaz Grid.
Delgaz Grid, which recently changed its name from E.ON Romania, is one of Romania’s largest gas and electricity distribution companies. The company operates an electricity network of more than 81,000 kilometres and a gas pipe network of 21.6 thousand kilometres, together serving more than 3.1 million people across counties in the north of Romania. The company is currently investing considerable capital in upgrades.
It was recently announced that Allianz Capital Partners (Allianz) will acquire a 30% stake in Delgaz Grid, which has turnover of around 1.6 billion – E.ON will remain the company's majority shareholder with a 56.5% while the Romanian state holds a further 13.5%. Mott MacDonald advised Allianz during the acquisition of the stake; the deal is one of the largest in the country for several decades, and highlights continued interest in the segment.
The consultancy firm provided a range of advisory services to Allianz, from reviewing both operation and maintenance and environmental and social performance, to delving into the vendor’s capital and operational expenditure in conjunction with a technical review. The firm leveraged its local language expertise as well as its international network, meeting with key stakeholders, including senior management and regulators, to develop deep and broad oversight from which to make key judgements.
Fay Lelliott, Mott MacDonald’s project manager, says, “Being able to provide electrical engineers with Romanian language capability and utilise our local country office for language and translation support was of great benefit during this project. Our international project team’s depth of knowledge from similar transactions allowed us to target our review and clarification requests effectively to release an enhanced understanding of the assets and ultimately a successfully outcome for Allianz Capital Partners.”
