Press release 25 March 2025
Iqony takes over district heating shares
Company drives growth in the district heating business
Essen/Munich. Iqony is acquiring MEAG Munich Ergo Asset Management GmbH's (MEAG) shares in Iqony Fernwärme GmbH. The district heating company, which operates in Bottrop, Essen and Gelsenkirchen, will thus become a wholly owned subsidiary of the Steag Iqony Group. By acquiring the shares, the company is not only emphasising the strategic importance of the district heating business segment, but also confirming its own long-term growth targets.
As one of the largest German district heating suppliers with large interconnected networks in the Ruhr region and Saarland as well as numerous municipal cooperations for local district heating supply throughout Germany, the Steag Iqony Group has repeatedly emphasised the strategic importance of the business segment not only for the future of its own company, but also for a successful energy and heating transition in Germany as a whole.
‘The goal of supplying people, especially in our cities, with heat in a resource-saving, climate-neutral and at the same time reliable and affordable way is best achieved with district heating,’ says Dr Andreas Reichel, CEO and Labour Director of the Steag Iqony Group, underlining the relevance of the business segment.
Strategic importance of district heating
In this respect, the takeover of the 49 per cent stake previously held by the financial investor MEAG reflects the strategic importance of the business segment within the company and for society as a whole. With the complete takeover, the Steag Iqony Group is also documenting its intention to reorganise and further strengthen the district heating business within the Group in line with its growing social importance.
Important step towards achieving growth targets
This strengthening of the district heating business is made possible by the takeover of the Steag Iqony Group by the Spanish infrastructure investor Asterion Industrial Partners at the beginning of last year. Since then, the long-established Essen-based energy company has focussed its business activities as part of a strategic realignment.
‘District heating is a core topic for the company and its further growth, and I am very pleased that we are now reintegrating Iqony Fernwärme 100 per cent into the company. In addition to district heating, we are focusing our activities on the expansion of renewable technologies and the business with decarbonisation solutions for customers and partners from industry and municipalities,’ says Nicole Hildebrand, COO of the Steag Iqony Group. In this respect, the acquisition of the shares in MEAG is a logical step towards achieving these growth targets.
Iqony Fernwärme operates a district heating network in Bottrop, Essen and Gelsenkirchen with a total length of around 740 kilometres. The almost 160 employees generate a turnover of around 210 million euros. Ground-breaking investments are planned in the three municipalities in the coming years.
Realisation of strategic growth targets
‘Transformation towards climate neutrality and expansion: these are the key issues for us in district heating, which we are working on at full speed. In all three cities, we are planning further expansion in line with the goals of municipal heating planning. We are not only looking at network densification, but also the development of new neighbourhoods that have not yet been supplied with district heating,’ explains Matthias Ohl, CEO of Iqony Fernwärme.
The company recently began building a district heating storage facility in Gelsenkirchen, which has a capacity of 31 million litres and can supply the local district heating network for around a weekend. A similar project is also planned for Essen in the near future.
‘With the construction of the district heating storage facility, we are creating the conditions for integrating more different heat sources into our network in future. These include waste heat from industrial processes, for example, where the heat is not always generated at the time when our customers need it. In order to be able to synchronise production and consumption, storage is needed,’ explains Matthias Kuhles, Technical Managing Director of Iqony Fernwärme.
No statements on contract details
With regard to the acquisition of the shares previously held by MEAG, both parties have agreed not to disclose the contractual details. The signing of the contract will be followed by the closing of the transaction as soon as the foreign trade authorisation has been granted by the authorities.
