ener|gate Gasmarkt spoke almost exactly a year ago with Michael Rimmler, the managing director of GasVersorgung Süddeutschland (GVS). We talked about the business year 2021 and the developments for 2020. The focus of the last interview was the Covid-19 pandemic and the impact on GVS's business. The short answer for 2020: The impact on the internal processes and work organisation was strong, the business was hardly affected. This is still the case. Covid-19 plays a role in the following interview. Mr Rimmler mainly explained how new options for approaching customers were discovered thanks to the visualisation of communication. GVS thinks that there are promising new opportunities. But ener|gate Gasmarkt mainly talked about current and future business with Mr Rimmler.
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- Issue title:
GasVersorgung Süddeutschland Interview with the managing director Michael Rimmler
- Publication date:
- 05.05.2021
- In this issue:
The title of this ener|gate Gasmarkt edition could be: "Is Gas the New Coal?". The question of what role natural gas can play as a transition technology is being discussed more and more in Germany and Europe. This discussion is also having an impact on the potential future role for renewable gases, green, blue or turquoise hydrogen and the fuels made from it. I was very impressed about how directly and thoughtful Ulf Heitmüller, the CEO of VNG addressed the topic in his speech at the annual press conference. Ultimately, he feels that the whole discussion endangers the future of his company: "The discussion questions our ‘license to operate’", he said expressively. Mr Heitmüller is not one to exaggerate - he is a sober and analytical manager. The discussion is also mirrored in this edition in two lengthy stories about the EU regulations "Taxonomy" and TEN-E". Both regulations are not entirely new, but the final stipulations of the detailed technical rules reached the final stage. The joint topic of both regulations is the EU co-funding of investment in sustainable energy assets. According to both regulations, this will be possible in future for natural gas activities only under very restricted conditions, if at all. The final adoption of the definition of sustainable activities in the Taxonomy Regulation had to be postponed due to the highly controversial European debates.
One of the four OGE shareholders, the infrastructure funds MEIF4 of the investment company Macquarie wants to sell its 24.13 per cent share. The three other shareholders of the TSO are the Canadian British Columbia Investment Management (32.15 %), the state-owned Abu Dhabi investment funds ADIA (24.99 %) and the insurance company Munich Re (18.73 %). The shareholders bundled their shareholding in Vier Gas Services. Through the intermediate holding company Vier Gas Transport, Vier Gas Service is the sole owner of OGE. The German daily business newspaper Handelsblatt reported about the sale intention and with reference to the news agency Reuters. "Several people familiar with the plans" told the news agency that the Swiss bank UBS was mandated by Macquarie with the search for a buyer. Such reports from Reuters are part of the merger & acquisitions game, therefore it is likely to be true. Allegedly, Macquarie is currently in talks with its co-shareholders to find out whether they either want to join the sales process and add their share or whether they want to take the MEIF4 share into their shareholding. If OGE is sold completely, the expectation for the sales price, according to Reuters, is six billion euros. That would be a decent return. In 2012, the current shareholders paid a total of 3.2 billion euros to E.ON: "I am curious to see whether this expectation regarding the price is realistic", an observer said. The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
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