Centrica buys Danish energy management company

Centrica has agreed to acquire Denmark-based energy management provider Neas Energy A/S for DKK1.6bn (£170m) in cash plus adjustments for cash and net working capital.

Neas provides customers with route to market and short-term trading optimisation services in six European countries.

The British Gas owner said the acquisition was in line with its strategy to expand its route to market services in Europe, and to continue to utilise and build its knowledge of European energy markets in order to benefit from trading and optimisation activity.

It said Neas’s business model is complementary to Centrica’s current Energy Marketing & Trading activities, providing expertise in short-term power trading and asset management in North West Europe. The deal also adds enhanced analytics, IT and trading capabilities in Continental Europe.

Chief executive Iain Conn said: “Our new strategy recognises that the energy landscape is rapidly changing, with a trend away from large centralised power generation to decentralised technologies – much of it intermittent renewable generation.

“Neas has developed a business model and capabilities that are able to capitalise on this trend and, combined with Centrica’s existing strengths, this acquisition will allow us to accelerate our energy marketing and trading growth strategy and serve renewable and distributed energy customers at a wholesale level across Europe.”