European bank fund brokering sale of Latvian gas company shares

Marguerite, a fund set up by several European banks to invest in energy projects, is brokering the sale of the stake in Latvijas Gaze natural gas utility owned by Germany's E.ON Ruhrgas International (EON), it was reported Friday.

Juris Savickis, vice-chairman of the Latvijas Gaze board, expects Marguerite to offer the Latvian gas company shares to "serious companies."

Speaking after a board meeting on Friday, Savickis said one of the issues discussed was the planned sale of Latvijas Gaze shares. "Work in that direction is ongoing," he said.

In September 2014, the Latvian government decided to make a non-binding offer to E.ON Ruhrgas International for its 47.2 percent stake in Latvijas Gaze, which the German company wanted to sell for 220 million euros (about 238 million U.S. dollars). Two Lithuanian state-controlled energy companies, Lietuvos Energija and Epso-G, also offered to buy the Latvijas Gaze shares.

E.ON. Ruhrgas International, the German shareholder of Latvijas Gaze, has decided to dispose of its shares in the Latvian natural gas utility.

Latvijas Gaze, engaged in purchasing, transportation, storage and distribution of natural gas, is quoted on the secondary list of the NASDAQ OMX Riga stock exchange.

The company's key shareholders are Germany's E.ON Ruhrgas International (47.2 percent), Russia's Gazprom (34 percent) and Itera Latvija (16 percent). Endit