E.On to sell Norwegian oil and gas assets to firm owned by Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman
German utility giant E.On is selling its Norwegian oil and gas assets to a company owned by Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman for $1.6bn (£1.04bn), as part of its ongoing restructuring plan for its oil and gas division.
The blue-chip firm, whose UK supply arm is one of the big six energy providers, saw its share price soar more than three per cent on the news that it had sold the assets to German oil and gas operator DEA, owned by Fridman's LetterOne fund.
The deal is expected to close by the end of the year. LetterOne, whose energy fund is run by former BP boss Lord Browne, was forced to sell its UK North Sea assets earlier this year due to Western sanctions on Russia over the Ukraine crisis.
E.On said last November that it had put its North Sea oil and gas business under review and would spin off its energy trading, power generation and oil and gas activities into a separate unit next year.