Germany's RWE has agreed a £3.1 billion sterling bid for Britain's Innogy in a deal that puts it among Europe's top three electricity utilities.
RWE, the world's third-biggest water company, said today it would pay 275p in cash per Innogy share and assume £2.1 billion of debt, giving Innogy an enterprise value of about £5.2 billion.
The deal is part of a move across Europe by the bigger firms in the utility sector, seeking to grab market share as governments open up their previously monopolistic and state-run industries to competition.
RWE said the offer valued the British company at a premium of 31 per cent over Innogy's closing price on February 15th when the group first confirmed that it was talking to interested buyers.
Shareholders in Innogy will have made a 73 per cent return since the demerger from privatised power company International Power in October 2000 if they accept the offer.
