Sale of Energia in €2.75bn deal wins approval from European regulators

DCM Editorial Summary: This story has been independently rewritten and summarised for DCM readers to highlight key developments relevant to the region. Original reporting by Irish Times, click this post to read the original article.

The €2.75 billion sale of electricity and gas supplier Energia’s to French investor Ardian will go ahead after regulators approved the deal on Wednesday.

Owned by US investor, I Squared, Energia supplies around 900,000 homes and businesses around Ireland, operating two power plants at Huntstown, Co Dublin along with wind and solar farms.

The European Commission approved its sale to Ardian on Wednesday, saying the deal would not raise competition concerns given the companies’ limited market positions.

For those reasons, the commission decided not to oppose the sale and declared it compatible with the internal market and the European Economic Area Agreement, said a statement.

The sale is likely to proceed in coming weeks. I Squared and Ardian had said that, pending competition regulators’ approval, they hoped to complete the transaction by the end of March.

The pair announced the deal in October. It had a reported an “enterprise value” of €2.75 billion, a figure that included the sale price and Energia’s net debt.

Neither side commented on the figure.

Ardian was not considered a front-runner when it emerged last year that I Squared wanted to sell Energia. However, by December, the French group was reported to have reached agreement on buying the Irish energy business.

Ardian is the biggest shareholder in London’s Heathrow airport, with a 32.6 per cent stake. The French firm is one of Europe’s biggest private equity investors, managing assets worth around $200 billion (€169 billion).

The company invests in infrastructure, green energy, utilities and microchips, among other industries. It has 22 offices worldwide.

Led by long-serving chief executive, Ian Thom, Energia is one of the biggest players in the Irish market, supplying around 20 per cent of energy used here.

In December, the group reported that earnings fell 22.5 per cent to €122.2 million in the six months to September 30th, 2025, the first half of its financial year.

Energia last year won planning approval to build a data centre at Huntstown in partnership with tech giant, Microsoft. Industry sources predicted at the time that the move would increase the company’s attraction for potential buyers.

The company is also building solar and wind farms while considering other green energy projects.

In partnership with Norway’s Vårgrønn, it was one of several groups that bid for the right to develop a wind farm off the Co Waterford coast. The Government provisionally awarded that contract to a consortium of State-owned ESB and Danish player, Ørsted.