BASF Transaction Undergoes Regulatory Routine Review: Sale of Wintershall Dea to Harbour Energy Unaffected

In a recent conversation with press representatives, Dirk Elvermann, the Chief Financial Officer of the chemical company BASF, explained that despite an announced investigation by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs, he sees no obstacles to the sale of the oil and gas subsidiary Wintershall Dea. The prospective buyer is the British oil giant Harbour Energy. According to Elvermann, the examination is a routine part of the legal requirements - a typical configuration according to the Foreign Trade and Payments Act and its associated regulation. The sale was officially announced by BASF in December of the previous year. However, the federal government seems to want to play it safe and has envisaged an investment review for the transaction. The completion of the deal is projected for the fourth quarter of the year. The focus of the agreement includes the production and development business as well as various exploration licenses including options for CO2 capture and storage in several countries. Elvermann emphasized in his statement that the entities sold by Wintershall Dea do not contain critical infrastructure. An exception could be a minority stake in the pipeline network operator Nowega, to which Wintershall Dea only has indirect access through a participation in Erdgas Münster. This very point seems to be the impetus for the interest of the federal government. In addition to the main business, Wintershall Dea also plans to separately sell their stake in the company Wiga, which is active in the gas transportation industry. The operationally independent subsidiaries of Wiga manage high-pressure pipelines, which were previously used mainly for the distribution of Russian gas in Germany. Today, according to Elvermann, they are central to the landing of liquefied natural gas from other nations, such as the USA, and possibly also for hydrogen in the future. These assets, Elvermann assured, are not part of the deal with Harbour Energy, and the federal government is primarily the contact for their sale. Elvermann pointed out that the framework conditions have changed compared to previous transactions, as Britain is no longer part of the EU. Nevertheless, so far, no British purchaser has been denied acquisition in the context of an investment screening. His confidence regarding the positive completion of the examination remained unbroken.