Hogan Lovells, White & Case and Luther provide legal advice for Open Grid Europe and Gasunie's takeover of jordgasTransport from Statoil

Essen/Hanover, Friedeburg-Etzel – On 13 December 2016, Gasunie Deutschland Transport Services GmbH (Gasunie) and Open Grid Europe GmbH (OGE) took over jordgasTransport GmbH (jordgasTransport). jordgasTransport was previously a subsidiary of Statoil Deutschland GmbH (Statoil Deutschland). Luther provided legal advice to OGE during the takeover. Hogan Lovells and White & Case were the legal advisers of Statoil Deutschland and Gasunie respectively. The takeover has already been approved by the cartel authority.

About jordgasTransport
jordgasTransport (registered office: Emden/Lower Saxony) is a transmission system operator for natural gas. Together with Gasunie and OGE, the company owns the 341 kilometre-long natural gas pipeline NETRA, which runs from the Europipe receiving facilities in Dornum on the North Sea coast to Steinitz in Saxony-Anhalt. The gas pipeline has a transmission capacity of around 58 million cubic meters a day, which can cover up to 5.5 percent of Germany's natural gas requirement.

About OGE
The independent transmission system operator OGE was established as a subsidiary of E.ON Ruhrgas in 2004. Today, OGE is Germany's leading natural gas transporter with a workforce of around 1,450 employees and 450 national and international customers. Since 2012, OGE has been part of a consortium consisting of the Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund 4, Infinity Investments, British Columbia Investment Management Corporation and Meag Munich Ergo Asset Management.

About Gasunie
Gasunie's more than 15,500 kilometre-long pipeline system in the Netherlands and Germany operates as a gas hub for North-West Europe. Gasunie Deutschland is a subsidiary of N.V. Nederlandse Gasunie. With its natural gas transmission system in North Germany, which is more than 3,600 kilometres long, Gasunie's transport facilities make a significant contribution to the reliable supply of natural gas in Germany and Europe.

About Statoil
Statoil Deutschland is the German subsidiary of the Norwegian group Statoil ASA. Statoil is an international energy company with 22,000 employees operating in 37 countries. Statoil has been supplying oil and gas for 40 years. Its headquarters are in Stavanger, Norway. Statoil is listed on the New York and Oslo stock exchanges.

For Gasunie Deutschland Transport Services GmbH
In-house: Gorden Janus, Johann-Caspar Engels, Sebastian Hoppe (Hanover), Hester bij de Leij (Groningen)

White & Case: Thomas Burmeister (M&A/Energy, Dusseldorf; Lead), Dr Markus Stephanblome (M&A, Frankfurt), Dr Kristin Spiekermann (M&A/Energy, Dusseldorf), Dr Justus Herlinger (Hamburg), Prof. Dr Michael Bartsch (Dusseldorf, both Cartel law), Christina Will (M&A/Energy, Dusseldorf), Dr Jan Ole Eichstädt, Hugo Leite, Marco Stephan (all M&A, Frankfurt), Andreas Kössel (Employment law, Frankfurt), Alexander Dartsch (M&A/Energy, Dusseldorf)

For Open Grid Europe GmbH
In-house: Uwe Becker, Dr Carla von Lossow, Lars Voss (all Essen)

Luther, Mergers & Acquisitions/Company law:  Dr. Stefan Galla (Lead Partner, Essen), Dr. Michael Krömker, MBA (Dusseldorf), Dr. Cédric Müller, LL.M., Daniel Jürgensen, LL.M. (both Essen)

Luther, Cartel and Regulation law: Dr. Holger Stappert (Partner), Dr. Angelo Vallone (Counsel), Franz-Rudolf Groß, LL.M. (Counsel), (all Dusseldorf)

Luther, Employment law: Paul Schreiner (Partner), Klaus Thönißen, LL.M. (both Essen)

Luther, Real Estate and Real Estate Management law: Dr. Björn Arndt (Essen)

Luther, Insurance law: Dr. Alexander Mönnig, LL.M. (Counsel, Hamburg)

For Statoil Deutschland GmbH

In-house: Egil Kolstø (Stavanger)

Hogan Lovells: Tobias Flasbarth (Counsel, Corporate Energy, Hamburg, Lead), Matthias Hirschmann (Partner, Corporate Energy, Hamburg), Michael Dettmeier (Partner, Dusseldorf, Tax), Mathias Schönhaus (Counsel, Dusseldorf, Tax), Jan Eggers (Counsel, Hamburg, Cartel law), Matthes Schröder (Partner, Hamburg, Employment), Johanna Brock-Wenzek (Associate, Hamburg, Cartel law), Alexander Koch (Senior Associate, Corporate Energy, Hamburg), Kjell Jacobsen (Associate, Hamburg, Corporate M&A), Claus Asbeck (Associate, Hamburg, Employment), Thomas Frank (Senior Associate, Munich, Pensions)