RWE Sees Delays For Dea’s Sale to Russian Tycoon

Germany-based RWE said that regulatory issues might delay the sale of its Dea oil and gas unit to a group led by Russian tycoon Mikhail Fridman, some weeks after the reassuring comments released by the German Economy Ministry.

“We cannot predict whether we will be able to bring the talks to a conclusion this year,” Chief Executive Officer Peter Terium wrote in a letter to shareholders on Thursday.

According to Bloomberg, the ‘deal may theoretically fail’ on the lack of political approval from UK Energy Secretary Ed Davey. 

In October, Fridman LetterOne received the green light from the German government to buy the company. 

On Thursday, the Essen-headquartered company also registered a 31% year-on-year drop in operating result to EUR 2.9 billion.  

‘EBITDA was down 22% to EUR4.7 billion, and recurrent net income – the basis for determining the dividend – fell 60% to EUR763 million,’ the company wrote on Thursday, adding that results are partly due to the fact that recurrent net income no longer includes the result from RWE Dea ‘as it is in the process of being sold.’