Energy Giant TotalEnergies Gambles €5.1bn On Křetínský’s Gas-Heavy Power Portfolio

TotalEnergies has just dropped a bombshell in Europe’s energy sector. The French giant is gobbling up a 50% stake in EPH‘s flexible power generation platform, valued at a whopping €5.1 billion. And get this – they’re paying entirely in stock. No cash needed. Just handing over 4.1% of their company to Daniel Křetínský’s EPH. Talk about confidence.

What’s in the package? A lot of gas-fired plants, for starters. Plus some biomass facilities and battery systems scattered across Italy, UK, Ireland, France, and the Netherlands. We’re talking 14 gigawatts of capacity already running or being built, with another 5 GW in development. The gas plants are mostly state-of-the-art units in Northern Italy. Not exactly the green dream, but hey, it’s cleaner than coal.

Gas and batteries across Europe—cleaner than coal, but still not the green dream we’re promised.

The deal creates a 50/50 joint venture that both companies will use to expand their flexible power business. TotalEnergies gets to market its share of electricity, EPH does the same. Pretty neat arrangement.

Why bother? TotalEnergies wants to be Europe’s power kingpin. This deal puts them closer to that goal. And the numbers look good – an extra $750 million in annual cash flow over five years. Their Integrated Power business gets profitable faster. Shareholders should be happy.

For EPH, it’s diversification away from their coal-heavy portfolio. Plus they become one of TotalEnergies’ largest shareholders. Not a bad day at the office.

The whole thing is waiting on regulators to give the thumbs up, expected by mid-2026. Energy security, decarbonization goals – all the right buzzwords are there to make officials happy. The transaction is especially aimed at meeting the growing energy demand from data centres and other sectors requiring reliable power.

Both companies claim this supports Europe’s energy evolution. Sure. It’s mostly gas plants. But in fairness, you need something reliable when the wind isn’t blowing. And battery systems are part of the mix too. This investment aligns with industry trends showing intermittent generation from renewables requires backup power sources. Just don’t call it green quite yet. The timing aligns with current market trends showing Brent crude prices hovering around $64.67 per barrel.