Total to Buy 50% Stake in EPH Power Assets for €5.1 Billion
(Bloomberg) -- TotalEnergies SE agreed to buy a 50% stake in a portfolio of western European power-generation assets for about €5.1 billion ($5.9 billion), expanding in the sector even as some major oil and gas peers retreat.
Total will acquire the assets from Czech tycoon Daniel Kretinsky’s energy holding company EPH, paying in new shares, it said in a statement Monday. The stock represents about 4.1% of Total’s share capital, making the Czech firm one of the company’s largest shareholders upon completion.
The French oil major is growing in the power sector as it pursues a diversification drive that targets 20% of energy sales from electricity by 2030. It has been snapping up solar, wind and battery projects in Europe and North America, but also gas-fueled plants — taking advantage of price swings in both markets and betting on soaring demand from the artificial-intelligence boom.
The latest deal will give Total gas- and biomass-fired plants and battery projects in Italy, the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands and France. As a result, Total expects its Integrated Power business to generate positive free cash flow and contribute to shareholder returns as early as 2027, compared with 2028 previously.
“The deal will give TotalEnergies a critical size in Europe’s power market, make its generation mix more resilient and improve predictability” of cash flows from the electricity segment, Frederic Lorec, an analyst at AlphaValue, said by phone. “The price of the deal makes sense.”
Total shares fluctuated at the open, and traded up 0.4% as of 10:39 a.m. in Paris.
The company also lowered its forecast for net capital spending by $1 billion a year to as little as $14 billion a year for 2026-2030, of which as much as $3 billion will be for its power business. The cut in capex may help Total keep a lid on debt — a recent focus for investors — as a forecast increase in global oil and gas production threatens to weigh on hydrocarbon prices in the coming years.
Total maintained a 2030 electricity-generation target of as much as 120 terawatt-hours.
The transaction will result in the creation of a joint venture owned 50/50 by Total and EPH, covering more than 14 gigawatts of gross flexible generation capacity in operation or under construction. Completion is expected in mid-2026, subject to regulatory approvals.
(Updates with analyst comment in fifth paragraph, shares in sixth.)
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