12/02/2015, 18:00
| Ad hoc announcement pursuant to Art. 53 LR
Lausanne – On 2 December 2015, Alpiq divested its small-scale hydropower plants in Norway. Five of the six facilities were taken over by Kleinkraftwerk Birseck AG. With this divestment, Alpiq is optimising its generation portfolio, and reducing net debt. Alpiq is continuing to consistently implement the Group’s transformation.
Alpiq held interests in three small-scale hydropower plants and three projects for small-scale hydropower plants in Norway, with shareholdings of 8 to 100 per cent in the respective companies. The power plants, which have been in operation for about seven years, have an installed capacity of 11.5 MW in total. Two power plants and three projects were acquired by Kleinkraftwerk Birseck AG in Münchenstein. The Alpiq share in the small-scale hydropower plant Reisæter was sold to one of the current shareholders. The parties have agreed not to disclose the sales price. Alpiq will use the proceeds from the sale to further reduce net debt. In Norway, Alpiq is focussing its commercial activities on energy trading and origination. Origination is offering structured and standard wholesale products which have been individually tailored to the off-take structures of larger energy consumers. These activities will be further expanded in Oslo.
Alpiq is continuing to consistently implement the Group’s transformation. In this context, Alpiq is focusing on further net debt reduction in order to secure capital market viability. Alpiq is making an important contribution to implementing Switzerland's energy future, especially as a hydropower specialist and leading energy service provider. For this reason, the company continues to argue in favour of Swiss hydropower, is expanding the market presence of energy services geographically, and will continue to make targeted investments in growth areas.