According to Bucsa, the natural gas distribution market will become concentrated in upcoming years, along with its liberalization, and companies will be able to trade gas on specialized platforms.
“In the future, all gas distributors might have to pay for the gaspay in advance. Small firms will have to find funding sources and most companies will not be able to cope with the situation and thus will have no choice but to sell, as potential buyers will appear, by default,” said Bucsa, adding that Gaz Sud purchases gas from Swiss energy trader Axpo.
Gaz Sud’s majority stockholder Ligatne has recently acquired Petrom Distributie Gaze from Romanian oil and natural gas company OMV Petrom.
Ligatne, held by Czech investment fund PPF Investments, controls in Romania the group of firms Gaz Sud – Grup Dezvoltare Retele (GDR). The two firms were set up in 2001 and serve over 22,000 clients.
Gaz Sud – Grup Dezvoltare Retele estimates a turnover of EUR15 million and operating profit before taxes, or EBITDA, of EUR2.3 million in 2013. In 2012, the group reported turnover of EUR14.2 million, EBITDA of EUR300,000 and loss of EUR1.9 million.
Petrom Distributie Gaze was set up in 2007 and served over 21,000 clients at the end of 2012.