Oldenburg, 1 November 2024: EWE plans to divest its Polish companies: The energy and telecommunications company from Lower Saxony signed an agreement on Thursday with Eesti Gaas (Tallinn), the largest private energy company in the Baltic-Finnish region, to take over all of the EWE Group's business activities in Poland. As Poland's second largest private network operator, EWE Polska operates a natural gas distribution network of 2,316 kilometres in western Poland and supplies over 25,000 customers with natural gas and electricity. Eesti Gaas is part of the investment company Infortar, also based in Tallinn. The completion of the transaction requires approval from the Polish Competition Authority as well as corporate approval by the EWE AG Supervisory Board.
Stefan Dohler, Chairman of the Board of Management, EWE AG: ‘EWE has set itself the goal of significantly increasing its investments in an increasingly climate-neutral and more digitalised energy future. To this end, we are focussing on defined strategic growth areas such as the expansion of renewable energies and the development of a hydrogen economy on the one hand, and on our core regions on the other, where we bear special responsibility for the success of the transformation. This means that we are also making portfolio decisions. EWE Polska complements the core business and growth ambitions of Eesti Gaas, so that the change of ownership would open up new growth opportunities for the company on the Polish energy market.’
Ain Hanschmidt, CEO of Infortar and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Eesti Gaas: ‘Our ambition is to expand beyond the Baltic-Finnish region into Central and Western Europe, implementing our proven model and experience as a gas supplier and network operator Poland, thereby delivering the best service to consumers. The acquisition of an energy company in Poland provides us with the necessary momentum in this large and important growing gas market, while also ensuring an additional steady cash flow for the company’s shareholders.’
Eesti Gaas is the largest privately-owned energy company in the Baltic-Finland region. Operating internationally under the Elenger brand, the group is active in six markets – Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Germany – and serves over 400,000 customers. The group’s business portfolio spans energy sales and trading, energy infrastructure, and energy production. Eesti Gaas provides customers with natural gas of Western origin and self-produced biomethane, and operates the largest gas distribution networks in Estonia and Latvia with combined length of 7000 km. The company also sells electricity, including green electricity produced in its own solar parks. Eesti Gaas group employs 900 people and reached a turnover of €1.022 billion last year.
