Spain's Enagas locked out of Dutch-UK gas link due to ROFR

Spanish grid operator Enagas SA (BME:ENG) has failed to acquire a minority stake in the 235-kilometre (146 miles) UK-Dutch gas interconnection, saying on Wednesday that the link’s current shareholders exercised their right of first refusal (ROFR).

As announced a month ago, Enagas was ready to pay around EUR 75 million (USD 80.3m) to buy a 20% stake in the gas link’s operator BBL Company from Germany’s Uniper SE (ETR:UN01). The deal would have given Enagas a shareholding position next to Dutch peer Gasunie, owner of a 60% stake in BBL, and Belgium’s Fluxys (EBR:FLUX), which holds 20%.

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Enagas said in a bourse filing that the closing of the transaction will not take place due to ROFR.

The BBL Interconnection currently transports gas in both directions between the Netherlands and the UK. Enagas highlighted the link’s future value as the green hydrogen pipeline between production and consumption points in both countries due to its inclusion in the European Hydrogen Backbone map.

(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.070)