The Danish Competition Council has approved OK a.m.b.a.’s acquisition of natural gas customer agreements and Ørsted Varmeservice A/S

In June 2020, the Danish Competition Council approved SEAS-NVE Holding A/S’ (hereinafter “SEAS-NVE”) acquisition of several companies from Ørsted A/S. As part of the approval, SEAS-NVE committed to divest all of the 107.000 private natural gas customer agreements in Ørsted Privatsalg El & Gas. SEAS-NVE entered into an agreement with OK to acquire all natural gas customer agreements.

The 107.000 natural gas customer agreements consist of primarily household customer agreements. The customers are distributed throughout most of Denmark where natural gas distribution is available.

Ørsted Varmeservice is active in maintenance and service of natural gas and oil boilers, district heating systems, and heat pumps.

OK is a Danish cooperative, owned by 11.200 customers. OK sells natural gas to primarily households throughout Denmark. OK is, among other things, also active in maintenance and service of natural gas and oil boilers as well as heat pumps.

The Danish Competition Council has assessed that OK meets the criteria for being a suitable buyer of the natural gas customer agreements in accordance with the commitments made by SEAS-NVE.

According to the DCCA’s investigations, OK’s acquisition of the natural gas customer agreements and Ørsted Varmeservice affects the three markets for:

• Retail supply of natural gas to private consumers (and small and medium-sized business) in Denmark.
• Service of natural gas boilers delineated geographically to Denmark or each of five regional areas.
• Service of oil boilers delineated geographically to Denmark or each of five regional areas.

The DCCA found that the merger would not result in a significant impediment to effective competition.

On 26 August 2020, the Danish Competition Council approved the merger.