Hydro plant sale

E.ON is to sell 13 hydroelectric plants located on the Inn River in south-east Germany to Verbund, a Vienna-based power company.

In addition to an undisclosed cash sum, E.ON will also receive rights to buy electricity over a 20-year period from Verbund's Zemm-Ziller pumped-storage hydroelectric plants in Austria's Ziller River Valley.

The sale of the Inn River hydro plants comes as the result of a deal E.ON struck with the European Commission to sell about 5,000MW of generation capacity and its high-voltage distribution network in Germany after the Commission brought an antitrust case against the company.

The E.ON/Verbund deal is scheduled to close in the third quarter of 2009, but it is still subject to certain conditions including the approval of E.ON's supervisory board and the Commission.

Including the Verbund transaction, E.ON has now concluded agreements to sell a total of about 3,200MW of generation capacity to deliver on its commitments to the Commission.