Competition office to investigate E.ON gas business purchase for 4-6 months

The investigation of the government's purchase of E.ON Földgáz Trade Zrt and E.ON Földgáz Storage Kft could take 4-6 months or even more, business daily Napi Gazdaság said on Monday. The paper quoted the competition office GVH, which said the deadline set by the law for comprehensive investigations is 4 months, which can be extended once, by 2 months. The deadlines do not include, however, the periods elapsing between the requests of data by the office and the arrival of the responses. GVH started the investigation on April 4. Based on its value, the transaction falls within the authority of GVH and does not require approval from the European Commission, GVH told the daily. The state-owned Hungarian Electricity Works (MVM) signed an agreement on the purchase of E.ON's gas business interests in Hungary for about €870 million on March 28. The purchase price includes the shares of E.ON Földgáz Storage and E.ON Földgáz Trade, worth about €350 million, as well as other overataken liabilities of the two companies. The final purchase price is dependent on the level of gas reserves when the transaction is closed, MVM noted. MVM said in March that the transaction is expected to be closed in the second half of 2013, following approval by authorities.