Total Says French Retail Takeover Completed

Total announced late July 6 it completed its acquisition of a 73.04% controlling interest in French energy retailer Direct Energie the same day for €1.4bn ($1.73bn).

It was cleared by the European Commission last week but remains subject to review by French financial markets regulator AMF which will assess its compliance with applicable laws and regulations.

Ledouble, a financial consultancy firm appointed by Direct Energie’s board as an independent expert, confirmed that the price offered represents fair financial value for Direct Energie’s minority shareholders – including for the squeeze-out procedure that Total intends to request if the required AMF conditions are met.

Total CEO Patrick Pouyanne said the takeover "allows us to accelerate our integration downstream along the full gas and power value chain and to reach critical mass in the French and Belgium markets where we are growing fast.”  Philippe Sauquet, Total's head of gas, power and renewables, is to be one of the new directors of Direct Energie.