The European Energy Exchange (EEX) and the Danish Gas Transmission System Operator Energinet.dk have agreed on a comprehensive cooperation. In this context, EEX will acquire 50 percent of the shares in the Danish gas exchange Gaspoint Nordic A/S, subject to the approval of the respective authorities. With this cooperation, both companies force the further development of the Danish natural gas market and its alignment with continental European standards.
In addition to this, Gaspoint Nordic will enable 24/7 trading on the Danish gas market with the support of EEX starting October 2014. At the same time, the EEX subsidiary European Commodity Clearing (ECC) will assume clearing and settlement services for all products that are listed on Gaspoint Nordic.
“Over the last few years, Gaspoint Nordic has established successfully in the Danish gas market”, says Peter Reitz, Chief Executive Officer of EEX. ”Therefore, the cooperation with Energinet.dk is a very promising step for the development of the Danish gas market and towards our strategy to grow by extending our geographical reach”.
“Energinet.dk is pleased to have shared ownership of Gaspoint Nordic as alongside an important a gas exchange such as EEX”, says Energinet.dk’s Torben Brabo, Senior Vice President, Gas. He continues: “This is very positive for the Danish and Swedish gas markets as well as for Gaspoint Nordic because, from the very beginning, this will support the establishment of new services and will continue to do so in future”.
“EEX is an experienced and well established player in the Continental European gas market and will support us with the further development of Gaspoint Nordic in the Danish gas market”, adds Jacob Pedersen, Chief Executive Officer of Gaspoint Nordic. “In the short term EEX will support our operational processes which enables us to extend the service offering for our customers, for example with 24/7 trading on our market”.
Up to now, Gaspoint Nordic was 100 percent owned by Energinet.dk who will remain shareholder in Gaspoint Nordic. EEX and Energinet.dk will now jointly support Gaspoint Nordic with the implementation of the gas target model in Denmark which aims for example at a growing importance of exchange-based balancing gas trading.
The Supervisory Boards of EEX and Energinet.dk have already approved the acquisition. The transaction is subject to the approval of the respective competition authorities in Germany and Denmark.