EQT In Exclusive Talks With ICG Infra To Acquire France's Ocea Group

(RTTNews) - Natural gas producer EQT Corp. (EQT) announced Thursday its exclusive talks with ICG Infrastructure Equity I to buy Ocea Group, a French water and heat submetering infrastructure provider.

EQT Active Core Infrastructure fund has entered exclusive negotiations for the deal, which is expected to further accelerate the company's growth.

The proposed deal is subject to customary regulatory conditions and approvals including information and consultation of the works council of Ocea. It is expected to close in the second quarter to third quarter of fiscal 2024.

Ocea operates more than four million heat and water submeters. It provides a comprehensive range of submetering services to over 7,000 public and private customers, including installation and rental, reading and data collection, and maintenance and replacement.

ICG Infra, since acquiring a majority stake in Ocea in 2019, had taken a series of initiatives to support its growth in the energy transition, led by CEO Emmanuel Croc.

With the proposed deal, EQT plans to support Ocea's growth in its core submetering business and across other adjacent solutions in the environmental, data management and smart housing segments.

EQT said it expects to help Ocea to continue the expansion of its asset and client base, drive growth through capex-enabled sustainable energy solutions and make significant investments in digital customer services.