Finnish hydroelectric purchase opposed in Norway
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The plans of two Finnish energy companies to acquire a 20-percent stake in Norwegian hydroelectric company E-CO Vannkraft have met with opposition.
Norwegian left-wing and Christian Democrat politicians are particularly opposed to selling the share to foreign companies. The politicians have called the proposed deal a scandal and demanded that it be blocked.
The Finnish companies, Etelä-Pohjanmaan Voima and Kymppivoima Tuotanto, announced in July that they would invest some 560 million euros in Norwegian hydroelectric power.
The E-CO Vannkraft deal would account for around half of this sum. The Finnish companies will also purchase 65 percent of the energy production of a Norwegian hydroelectric power plant for the next fifteen years.
The 20% holding in E-CO Vannkraft is to be sold by Norway's state-held power company Statkraft. However, the City of Oslo can block the sale: E-CO Energi, which is owned by Oslo, holds 80 percent of the E-CO Vannkraft shares, and is entitled to purchase the remaining shares before an outside party.
According to Rami Vuola, the head of Etelä-Pohjanmaan Voima, the Finnish side has been in contact with E-CO Energi representatives and City of Oslo politicians to assure them that all benefits they would accrue by increasing their ownership can also be achieved with the Finnish owners.
The situation will be resolved in early October at the latest. The Finnish companies will make a final decision in early September, after which E-CO Energi has thirty days to decide whether they will acquire the shares.
Vuola suspects that facts will not be decisive, but the Norwegians will act based on their principles. "We will be disappointed if we do not get the Vannkraft shares."
Norwegian legislation forbids foreign companies from acquiring majority holdings in Norwegian hydroelectric companies.
Helsingin Sanomat
