Germany's economy ministry will approve the sale of utility RWE's oil and gas unit DEA to a Russian investor despite tensions between Russia and the West over the Ukrainecrisis, two people familiar with the matter said to Reuters.
Germany's economy ministry will approve the sale of utility RWE's oil and gas unit DEA to a Russian investor despite tensions between Russia and the West over the Ukrainecrisis, two people familiar with the matter said to Reuters.
The economy ministry said in June it was investigating whether to block the 5.1 billion euro ($6.9 billion) sale of the DEA unit to the Letter One group of investors led by Russian tycoon Mikhail Fridman, which was announced in March.
As part of the deal, Fridman, Russia's second-richest man, and his co-investors get stakes in about 190 oil and gas licenses or concessions in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. The German government could theoretically have used a clause in its foreign trade law that allows it to block takeover deals that threaten "public safety and order", but it would have been an unprecedented move.
RWE has previously said it expects the deal, which has already got antitrust approval from the European Union, to be finalised this year.
