Grid operator TenneT could sell or list German assets

By Benoit Van Overstraeten and Toby Sterling

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -Dutch electricity grid operator TenneT will consider listing its German operations or selling them to a third party, it said on Thursday, as talks between The Hague and Berlin have so far failed to agree a sale to the German state.

A sale of the assets for as much as 25 billion euros ($27 billion) has been close to completion several times only to encounter German budget difficulties.

"Alas no deal has been reached and the negotiations are taking longer than I had hoped," Dutch finance minister Steven van Weyenberg said in a letter to parliament, adding he had been personally involved in the talks.

He said Germany's internal discussions over its 2025 budget should be finished around July 1 and "before that date there should be an agreement on a convincing and market-based sale price" for TenneT Germany.

However, he said, given TenneT's large capital needs and the chance that no deal may be reached, the company and the Dutch government consider it "prudent" to prepare other options.

TenneT, owned by the Dutch government, is the Netherlands' sole grid operator and also the largest grid operator in Germany.

TenneT said it had explored the possibility of a full sale of its German operations to state bank KfW.

Germany's economy ministry said it took note of Tennet's announcement, adding that Berlin was still in talks with the Dutch government over the purchase of TenneT Deutschland.

The company is spending 160 billion euros over 2024-2033 on grid improvements and expansions, including a grid to support burgeoning wind turbine parks in the North Sea.

Most of that will be funded by debt, but the company also needs to raise equity. Van Weyenberg's letter specified that the company's Dutch operations need 13 billion euros in fresh capital, while the German operations need 18 billion euros.

Berlin initially asked The Hague to sell TenneT Germany because it is considered crucial infrastructure for the country's transition to green energy.

TenneT said that while talks continue, TenneT will prepare for a potential investment in TenneT Germany from private investors or a potential listing to raise equity.

($1 = 0.9204 euros)

(Reporting by Benoit Van Overstraeten, Toby Sterling, Bart Meijer and Riham Alkousaa in Berlin; Editing by David Goodman and Mark Potter)