We’ve been talking about it for months, now it’s official: the Hera Group acquires the Soelia gas network. Through its subsidiary Inrete Distribuzione Energia, the multiutility won the tender for the plants and the gas distribution network serving the municipality of Argenta. Inrete Distribuzione Energia is one of the main operators in the natural gas distribution sector with over 1.1 million active redelivery points (PDR). Furthermore, Inrete Distribuzione Energia has also acquired Soelia’s shareholding in Sinergas, equal to 2, 85%. This operation further strengthens the presence of Inrete Distribuzione Energia within its reference territory. In fact, following the award, Inrete Distribuzione Energia acquires the Soelia gas distribution network, which serves approximately 10,000 PDRs in the municipal area of Argenta and is made up of a system that includes: approximately 240 kilometers of pipelines, five reduction plants and measures high to medium pressure, a second stage cabin and 44 zone cabins for low pressure reduction. Inrete Distribuzione Energia will take over the related management under an extension regime, with the commitment to keep the staff of the business unit acquired from Soelia unchanged. “Thanks to the acquisition of Soelia’s natural gas distribution assets, the Hera Group synergistically strengthens its presence in the municipal area of Argenta, where it already operates with the integrated water service – comments Federico Bronzini, CEO of Inrete Energy Distribution, subsidiary of the Hera Group – The multi-utility thus completes its territorial continuity, with the aim of being able to guarantee to an increasingly wider community the high standards of quality, continuity and safety of the services that the Group already provides in the energy, water and environment to approximately 5 million citizens”. The operation follows the decision of the Board of Directors of Soelia SpA of 15 January 2024 for the market survey in order to probe the interest of economic operators operating in the distribution of natural gas for the acquisition of gas distribution networks and related management services. The market survey was part of the recovery plan drawn up by Soelia SpA, approved by the municipal council of the Municipality of Argenta on 21 December 2023, to definitively re-establish the economic-financial balance of the multi-service company. For about four years Soelia SpA has undertaken a virtuous path of reorganization of its social accounts, which also passed through the debt restructuring agreement of the subsidiary Soenergy srl, approved by the Court of Ferrara in June 2023. As envisaged in the recovery plan, following the sale, Soelia SpA will definitively exit the “energy” branch, and with the expected revenues, which are estimated at no less than approximately 11 million euros, it will re-establish financial equilibrium for the next decade, which will allow it to operate with the maximum dedication to further business lines. Soelia SpA, therefore, once the transfer of the networks has been completed, will be able to return to investing in service innovation.
Franco Vanini
