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Dutch state-owned grid operator Tennet Germany is to raise up to €10bn in a private placement that could be the prelude to a further stake sale to the German government.
The company may announce the capital raise as early as Wednesday, according to five people with knowledge of the plans. The deal values the grid operator at about €40bn including existing debt, and the Dutch state would be left with a stake of about 55 per cent after the transaction, they said.
The investors participating in the private placement included the Norwegian state oil fund Norges as well as a Dutch pension fund and Asian sovereign fund, the people said. The deal is expected to be closed in 2026.
The Dutch finance ministry and Tennet declined to comment.
The Dutch government has tried to sell the German grid operations for years, as it grows reluctant to invest billions of Dutch taxpayer funds into modernising German electricity infrastructure.
But a plan to sell a stake in the unit to Germany fell through last year after Berlin and The Hague failed to agree on valuation. The Hague then launched a dual-track process, exploring both a private placement and a listing.
Since German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and his coalition took office in May, Berlin has resumed work to buy a stake, according to two people with knowledge of the plans. The German government was considering making an offer for 25 per cent of Tennet Germany, one of the people said.
The capital increase was seen by Berlin as a way to settle the disagreement over valuation, they added.
Another person familiar with the matter said Tennet and the Dutch state would be open to a German investment in upcoming negotiations, but that no agreement had been reached. Berlin would need to meet the same conditions as the new investors, they added.
The capital increase, which would happen partly at initial closing and partly in the upcoming years, would put Tennet Germany in position to raise the debt needed to finance the expansion of the German electrical grid amid a transition to greater reliance on renewable energy sources, a person added.
A spokesperson for the German finance ministry could not be immediately reached for comment. A spokesperson for Norges declined to comment.
Additional reporting by Andy Bounds in Brussels and Richard Milne in Oslo