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Swedegas, the owner and operator of the Swedish gas transmission grid, has been sold by EQT Infrastructure. The new owners are the Spanish and Belgian gas transmission companies Enagas and Fluxys, who have made a joint acquisition of Swedegas on a 50/50 basis.

"With Enagas and Fluxys, Swedegas will have new, strategic owners with similar core operations as ours. They have extensive knowledge of the European gas market and they share our ambition to invest in smart, sustainable energy solutions," said Lars Gustafsson, CEO of Swedegas.

The acquisition is described by the consortium as "strategically important", with "the potential to unlock synergies".

Fluxys owns gas grids in Belgium, Germany and Switzerland and Enagas has operations in Spain and South America. Both companies have invested in LNG terminals, including terminal facilities in Zeebrugge, Dunkirk and Altamira in Mexico.

"The Swedish gas market has major development potential. Investing in LNG infrastructure and in regional gas grids to facilitate the transition by the industrial, shipping and transport sectors from oil to gas, are areas in which we have identified significant scope for development," remarked Marcelino Oreja, CEO of Enagas.

"Swedegas' management has a strong track record and Fluxys looks forward to team up and continue the company's success. Both Fluxys and Enagás are long-standing LNG infrastructure players and we see great opportunities for sharing knowledge with Swedegas' highly experienced staff and developing the small-scale LNG market in Sweden," commented Walter Peeraer, CEO of Fluxys.

Strong growth

Since EQT acquired the company in 2010, Swedegas has undergone a period of strong growth. Milestones in the company's history include the acquisition of the branch pipelines from E.ON in 2011. In 2012, the company became Transmission System Operator (TSO) for the Swedish gas market. The following year, the Swedish government appointed Swedegas as the System Balance Administrator for the gas grid. In 2013, Swedegas signed a declaration of intent - the Green Gas Commitment - together with other European grid operators, including Fluxys, to make the transition to a renewable energy system. Swedegas is also one of the initiators behind the national biogas strategy for Sweden.

According to Lars Gustafson, CEO of Swedegas, there is a substantial need to invest in the energy infrastructure throughout the whole of Europe. "The projects that we are working on in Sweden will now be put in a broader context where we can identify synergies with Enagas' and Fluxys' operations in other European countries."

Fluxys is a Belgium-based gas infrastructure group. The company is a leading gas transit operator and its offering combines gas transmission, gas storage and terminalling of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

Besides its pipeline, storage and LNG terminalling assets in Belgium, Fluxys' partnerships include ownership in the Interconnector and BBL pipelines linking the UK with mainland Europe, the Dunkirk LNG terminal under construction in France, the NEL and TENP pipelines in Germany, the Transitgas pipeline in Switzerland and the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) pipeline from Turkey to Italy, which is to be constructed to bring gas from Azerbaijan to Europe.

Enagas is the technical manager of the Spanish gas system and the main carrier of natural gas in Spain, where the company owns approximately 11,000 kilometres of pipelines, five regasification plants and three underground storage facilities. Enagas also has operations in Mexico, Chile and Peru, and it has joined the TAP project, linking Turkey with Italy via Greece and Albania.