Articles

NIS and Swiss-based MET Group have recently set up a joint venture for the construction of a 102 MW wind farm in northern Serbia (Autonomous Province of Vojvodina). Attila Szaniszló, MET Group’s Country Chairman responsible for Serbia and Péter Horváth, Director of Strategy and Business Development at MET Power tell us more about this renewable energy project.

MET Group, the Swiss-headquartered energy company, has closed new revolving credit facilities (RCFs), drawing in €885mn from 15 lenders.

After having purchased two companies, MET Romania Energy continues its upswing. Petre Stroe, CEO: “The integrated vertical business model also requires the development of certain production capacities.”

Europe’s natural gas prices have risen to their strongest level for this time of year, lifting the cost of electricity for factories and utilities.

To become the leader in the consolidation of the market of natural gas and electricity sales in Italy through organic growth and acquisitions, and thus enter the top 10 of the sector at country level. This is the goal of MET Italy, founded in 2017 and controlled by the European energy giant MET, which has recently undergone a significant realignment at a control chain level as a result of a management buyout operation, bringing the Group’s current CEO, Benjamin Lakatos, and – to a lesser...

Only a few kilometres from Budapest, the construction of MET Group’s 17.6 MW photovoltaic power plant is already well under way. When ready, it will be one of the county’s largest solar power plants. The Dunai Solar Park investment is implemented on a 40-hectare plot located partly on the site of Dunamenti Erőmű power plant and partly on the area of a former fish farm. We visited the construction site, the largest of its kind ever seen in Hungary.

The transaction of MET Group’s acquisition of Tigáz, Hungary’s largest natural gas distributor, has officially closed. What makes a company that has fundamentally made important gains – already at a European level – in energy trading decide to engage in such a large-scale asset purchase deal?

MET Group is now at an important turning point for European markets, according to the energy trader’s chief executive Benjamin Lakatos, who seldom visits Hungary and speaks to the press even less often. The industry veteran said it is ‘not justified’ that the company is mentioned mainly in a political context even though 90 percent of its revenue is generated outside Hungary and its success can be attributed to a growth model founded on human capital.

Energy trader MET is now fully owned by its managers following divestments by its widely known previous owners. The company is planning further acquisitions in Europe and will raise new equity.

Once again, Europe’s natural gas sector witnesses the end of an era. A classic consolidation is taking place in the market, based on, besides commercial portfolios, a growth competition including physical assets as well, and the process forces energy dealers to a steady growth path. Accordingly, the strategy of MET Group focuses on intensive growth, that is, we have to outgrow the market, MET Hungary CEO Gergely Szabó told Portfolio.