In cooperation with the consulting firm Baker Tilly, E-Bridge has supported the French investor Ardian during an M&A process in the course of a technical due diligence in the areas of power generation, power grid, heat and water supply, gas supply and gas storage of EWE AG.

The gas supply assets examined include more than 61,000 km of gas pipelines in Germany and Poland as well as several gas cavern storage facilities with a total available gas storage capacity of around 2 billion m³. EWE AG’s gas network accounts for about twelve percent of the total German gas network.

Within the course of the project, which was led by Vigen Nikogosian, EWE’s assets around electricity, heat and water were evaluated. EWE is one of the largest and most efficient distribution network operators in Germany. The company operates a network over 93,000 km long, through which 80% of its electricity is green. The company has a generation capacity of 1,300 MW. During the due diligence, investment requirements for different development paths were determined for the assets under consideration. Risks and opportunities were weighed up together with the client.

On 6 December 2019, EWE AG finally announced the official sale of its shares to Ardian. The successful signing also took place in December. The transaction is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2020.

The French investment company Ardian is one of the largest private equity funds based in Europe, managing assets in Europe, North America and Asia amounting to US $ 96 billion.