EON in Talks to Enter Turkey, India as Profit at Home Drops

EON AG (EOAN), Germany’s biggest utility that plans to expand in Brazil where energy demand is expected to grow faster than in Europe, is in talks with potential partners to enter Turkey and India.

EON expects results from the discussions about possible agreements in the course of this year, Chief Executive Officer Johannes Teyssen said in a letter to shareholders today.

Germany’s largest utilities are overhauling operations after the Fukushima disaster in Japan last March drove Chancellor Angela Merkel to order the permanent closing of all nuclear plants by 2022. The shutdown of nuclear stations in EON’s home market trimmed earnings by 2.5 billion euros ($3.3 billion) in 2011 and drove the Dusseldorf-based utility to announce a 15 billion-euro divestment program, job cuts and plans to expand into new markets such as Brazil.

It has also identified Turkey and India as attractive markets, EON Chief Financial Officer Marcus Schenck said today in Dusseldorf.

“Turkey is the market we’re most familiar with,” Schenck said. While the utility could enter Turkey alone, it prefers to do so with a partner, he said.

EON is also seeking a local partner for entering the market in India, which is “much more difficult” than Turkey, he said.

EON agreed to buy 10 percent of Brazilian billionaire Eike Batista’s MPX Energia SA and set up a power-generation joint venture in January. The two companies plan to jointly generate 20,000 megawatts in Brazil and Chile and will each own 50 percent of the business.

via EON in Talks to Enter Turkey, India as Profit at Home Drops – Bloomberg.