European Commission clears OLT takeover by Snam and FSI

The European Commission has approved the acquisition of joint control over OLT Offshore LNG Toscana of Italy by Snam of Italy and First State Investments International of the UK.

OLT is active in the management of a floating storage and regasification unit for liquified natural gas in Italy.

Snam is the holding company of the Snam group, which is active in the development and integrated management of gas infrastructures and, in particular, in the transmission, regasification and storage of natural gas in Italy and other EU countries.

FSI is a company within the asset management division of Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation, one of Japan’s largest asset managers.

The commission concluded that the proposed acquisition would raise no competition concerns, because the companies are not close competitors in the markets where their activities overlap and, in addition, sector-specific regulation is in place to prevent anticompetitive effects arising from the transaction.

To remind, FSI agreed to purchase Uniper’s stake in the facility in May, while Snam signed the agreement to acquire the 49.07 percent stake from Italy’s regional utility Iren in September last year.

With a maximum annual regasification capacity of 3.75 billion cubic meters, OLT is the second-largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Italy.

Following the completion of the respective acquisitions, OLT will be jointly controlled by Snam and First State Investments, with a 49.07 percent and 48.24 percent stakes, respectively, and Golar LNG with a 2.69 percent stake.