EC Clears UK Fund's Dutch Foray

The European Union has cleared UK pension fund StandardLifeAberdeen's (SLA) purchase of a stake in the 470-km Dutch offshore gas pipeline Noordgastransport. It joins existing shareholders Denmark’s PensionDanmark and UK-based Neptune Energy. The European Commission said April 19 that, because SLA had no business activities in the same markets as NGT, the deal raised no competition concerns.

SLA announced last September it had agreed to acquire Dutch gas producer NAM’s 18% stake in NGT but did not say for how much; it said the deal marks SLA's first Dutch infrastructure investment and its "first foray" into the midstream oil and gas sector. 

Since it opened 20 years ago, NGT was operated by French utility Engie. But Engie’s majority interest in NGT was transferred to Neptune as part of a larger $4.7bn deal announced last year that completed February 2018. It was not immediately clear if SLA's acquisition of the 18% stake has also already been completed.

Noordgastransport map (Credit: Engie, formerly GDF Suez)