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Citation: Niemczyk, J.; Sus, A.;
Borowski, K.; Jasi´nski, B.; Jasi´nska, K.
The Dominant Motives of Mergers
and Acquisitions in the Energy Sector
in Western Europe from the
Perspective of Green Economy.
Energies 2022,15, 1065. https://
doi.org/10.3390/en15031065
Academic Editors: Wojciech Dyduch
and Szymon Cyfert
Received: 30 December 2021
Accepted: 27 January 2022
Published: 31 January 2022
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energies
Article
The Dominant Motives of Mergers and Acquisitions in the
Energy Sector in Western Europe from the Perspective of
Green Economy
Jerzy Niemczyk 1, Aleksandra Sus 2, Kamil Borowski 3, * , Bartosz Jasi ´nski 1and Katarzyna Jasi ´nska 4
1Department of Strategy and Management Methods, Wroclaw University of Economics & Business,
118/120 Komandorska Street, 53-345 Wroclaw, Poland; jerzy.niemczyk@ue.wroc.pl (J.N.);
bartosz.jasinski@ue.wroc.pl (B.J.)
2Department of Management, General Tadeusz Ko´sciuszko Military University of Land Forces,
Piotra Czajkowskiego Street 109, 51-147 Wroclaw, Poland; aleksandra.sus@awl.edu.pl
3Independent Researcher, 01-063 Warsaw, Poland
4Department of Theory o Organization and Management, Wroclaw University of Economics & Business,
118/120 Komandorska Street, 53-345 Wroclaw, Poland; katarzyna.jasinska@ue.wroc.pl
*Correspondence: kamil.borowski.1992@gmail.com
Abstract:
The aim of the research, the results of which are used in this publication, was to identify
the motives for mergers and acquisitions in the energy sector after the introduction of green economy
elements in Western Europe. The mentioned region is the group of countries where changes related
to the move to green energy are most visible (in addition to some countries from other regions,
such as Singapore, New Zealand, or countries of the Arabian Peninsula). The research assumed the
hypothesis that over the years since the Paris Conference the themes of mergers and acquisitions have
changed from motives close to the views related to energy generation in traditional systems (black
energy in large, monopolistic systems) to motives close to green energy (the research hypothesis).
This was confirmed in the research, as business risk diversification (defined as diversification of the
power sources from black to green) was the most popular M&A motive. In addition to emphasizing
the direction of changes in the M&A motives, the authors of this study decided to check whether
since 2015 (when the Paris Conference was organized) the motives behind the M&A transactions
conducted by companies operating in the electrical energy generation sector have changed, making
their motives close to the green energy dominant in Western Europe. Apart from verification of the
abovementioned hypothesis, the aim of the research was to check whether there are any characteristic
directions of changes in M&A motives across companies from particular Western European countries.
The motives are changing from positional approaches to motives closer to resource approaches (green
economy). The research used a critical analysis of the literature on the subject, a study that used desk
research based on openly available sources and our own analytical tool developed for the needs of
this analysis, which is the transformation of the concept of analysis of the M&A motives proposed in
K. Borowski’s research: “The strategic development of the technology companies. The mergers and
acquisitions perspective”.
Keywords: strategic management; mergers and acquisitions; energy sector; green economy
1. Introduction
Changes in global energy policy are already a fact. They have been confirmed by
successive climate conferences, including the last one in 2021 in Glasgow. More and more
countries are adopting and implementing those policies in the form of new laws regulating
the activities of the energy sector in line with new, green economy standards. In all
Western European countries, this sector is one of the most regulated, with significant state
interference. Despite attempts to regulate the market and a competitive economy within it,
Energies 2022,15, 1065. https://doi.org/10.3390/en15031065 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/energies
Energies 2022,15, 1065 2 of 17
policy has not been radically changed in recent years. Therefore, more and more energy
companies, within their resources and legal possibilities, have changed their strategies
toward the use of renewable energy sources [
1
]. This way they diversify their energy
production. As changes in the energy sector must occur very quickly, many enterprises
decide to develop externally, preferring mergers and acquisitions (M&A) [
2
,
3
] as faster
ways to comply with the requirements of declarations formulated at climate conferences.
Those M&A transactions are most often takeovers of photovoltaic companies, wind farms,
hydropower, and other producers of energy from renewable sources. This is often done
through the acquisition of start-ups [
4
]. Many of such mergers and acquisitions take place
especially in Western Europe. This is due not only to pressure from governments, but also
to the high awareness of societies that do not accept the “brown economy”. If it turns out
that the main motives for mergers and acquisitions in the energy sector are related to the
diversification of activities toward the production of energy from renewable sources, it will
confirm that political decisions can influence the companies’ behaviors and thus influence
the economy. At the same time, it will expand the knowledge related to strategic analysis
and the strategies of enterprises in the regulated sectors.
Therefore, the aim of the research, the results of which are presented in this publication,
was to identify the motives for mergers and acquisitions in the energy sector after the
introduction of green economy elements in Western Europe. The mentioned region is the
group of countries where changes related to moving to green energy are most visible (in
addition to some countries from different regions, such as Singapore, New Zealand, or
countries of the Arabian Peninsula).
The research assumed the hypothesis that over the years since the Paris Conference [
5
]
the themes of mergers and acquisitions changed from motives close to the views related to
energy generation in traditional systems (black energy in large monopolistic systems) to
motives close to green energy (the research hypothesis). In addition to emphasizing the
direction of changes in M&A motives, the authors of this study decided to check whether
since 2015 (when the Paris Conference was organized) the motives behind the M&A
transactions conducted by companies operating in the electrical energy generation sector
have changed, making their motives close to the green energy dominant in Western Europe.
The research used a critical analysis of the literature on the subject, a study that used desk
research based on openly available sources and our own analytical tool developed for the
needs of this analysis, which is a transformation of the concept of analysis of the M&A
motives proposed in K. Borowski’s research entitled, “The strategic development of the
technology companies. The mergers and acquisitions perspective” [6].
The article’s structure consists of a theoretical part, which presents the results of
literature studies on changes in the energy sector, but also in the entire economy, resulting
from the fundamentals of the green economy. One of those fundamentals is to move away
from coal and oil as energy sources and to switch to renewable sources. The result of
the literature research is also a review of the motives behind mergers and acquisitions,
including motives in the energy sector. They will be used as the basis for the analysis
carried out in the next, empirical part of the article.
The second, empirical part presents the results of research on the identification of
the motives behind M&A transactions in the energy sector after the introduction of green
economy elements in Western Europe. The authors selected 95 M&A transactions that were
announced by energy companies from 2015–2021. The acquiring companies come from
nine countries. Most of them come from France. This was a result of the high activity of
enterprises from these countries in M&A in the energy sector. The whole work ends with
a summary that discusses the results.
2. Green Economy as the Main Reason for Mergers and Acquisitions in the Energy Sector
The “green economy” is a term that was first used in a report commissioned for
development by the British government in 1989. That report, entitled Blueprint for a Green
Economy [
7
] (p. 192), was prepared primarily to determine whether there was a consensus
Energies 2022,15, 1065 3 of 17
definition of the term “sustainable development” and to identify the relationship between
sustainable development and the measurement of economic progress [
8
]. Indeed, the word
“green” appears only in the title of this document, and there are no further references
to environmental issues throughout the study. Follow-up reports issued in 1991 and
1994, entitled Blueprint 2: Greening the World Economy and Blueprint 3: Measuring
Sustainable Development, respectively, deal with global issues in the context of ecology,
highlighting climate change, the shrinking ozone layer, tropical deforestation, and the loss
of natural resources. These led to the development of so-called green stimulus packages
by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). UNEP has developed one of the
priority definitions of green economy, identifying it is a set of activities aimed at improving
human well-being and the realization of social equality, while at the same time meeting
the postulate of reducing the risk of environmental hazards and the ecological shortages
of natural resources [
8
]. The green economy at its most basic level is a clean energy
economy reflected in renewable energies (e.g., solar, wind, geothermal), green building
and energy-efficiency technologies, energy-efficient infrastructure and transportation, and
recycling and converting waste to energy [
9
]. The green economy is not just about clean
energy generation opportunities, but more significantly about new markets, new products
that are created using new technologies, and the associated new processes that reduce an
organization’s negative impact on the environment. Oceans, fresh air, and diversity of life
are essential conditions for human life and well-being. If the public goods system is to
avoid a tragedy of the goods that belong to everyone, it must coordinate norms of behavior
that protect and enhance this common good [
10
–
12
]. This is in opposition to the brown
economy, which assumes unlimited economic growth, intensive use of natural resources,
damage to biodiversity, over-consumption, and a lack of responsibility for the environment
and future generations [
13
,
14
]. The key moment for the development of this trend in global
economies was the economic crisis of 2008–2010, considered the biggest crash since the
crisis of the 1930s. The European Economic Recovery Plan was based on two main grounds,
one of which concerned the increase in the competitiveness of the European Union economy
in the long term as a result of dynamic growth in innovative, green, and energy-efficient
solutions. This point became critical in the process of sustainable development, one of
the ways of which was the green economy. The green economy ensures growth through
the creation of an adequate number of jobs, eliminating the impoverishment of society
through investments in the protection of natural capital, which is a low-carbon economy,
resource-efficient, and socially inclusive [15].
Green economy applies to [16]:
•
Green products and services, i.e., those that throughout their life cycles have little
impact on the environment because of the use of harmless components and are easily
recycled after use [17];
•
Green investments—related to the construction of self-sufficient facilities in terms of
energy, or to the use in production processes of machinery and equipment that are
efficient in terms of energy or raw materials [
18
]. A company’s strategy to focus on
green investment is to gain and maintain stakeholders’ acceptance and support. In
this way, a company manages the negative environmental impacts of its operations by
reducing energy consumption and carbon emissions [19,20];
•
Green economy sectors, i.e., such production that is environmentally friendly, com-
monly associated with agriculture, forestry, and animal husbandry, but also and
primarily related to renewable energy and its widespread use in global economies;
•
Green public procurement [
21
], i.e., a policy under which public entities integrate
ecological criteria and/or requirements into the purchasing process (public procure-
ment procedures) and look for solutions that minimize the negative impact of prod-
ucts/services on the environment and take into account the entire life cycle of the
products; by doing so, they influence the development and dissemination of envi-
ronmental technologies [
22
]. The aim of green public procurement is to integrate
environmental considerations into tender procedures, which is reflected in the ten-
Energies 2022,15, 1065 4 of 17
der criteria; in particular, it draws attention to their quality, functionality, technical
parameters, and the use of the best technologies in terms of environmental impact [
23
];
•
Green jobs, which are created as part of projects aimed at reducing the environmental
pressure of the economy and consumption, are created in every sector of the economy and
the only condition they must meet is to prevent harmful effects on the environment [
24
];
green jobs are directly related to the concept of sustainable development, i.e., economic
growth associated with environmental protection and respect for human dignity—people
become the subjects of such development, and the level of environmental degradation
depends on their activity in terms of using natural resources in a sustainable way [
25
].
The European Commission (2018) specifies that “a green job is one that directly deals
with information, technologies, or materials that preserves or restores environmental
quality. This requires specialized skills, knowledge, training, or experience (e.g., verifying
compliance with environmental legislation, monitoring resource efficiency within the
company, promoting and selling green products and services)” [26].
Green economy is most often identified with sectors (e.g., energy), general issues (e.g.,
pollution), and principles and policies in which economic instruments affecting the degree
of socio-economic development in the context of the role of the environment are of key
importance. The priorities in terms of creating a green economy are (a) the development
of renewable energy sources, (b) increasing energy efficiency in individual sectors of the
economy, production, and service facilities, as well as households, (c) restructuring industry
(especially traditional industry), and (d) creating new, environmentally friendly branches
of the economy [
27
] (p. 122). Furthermore, activities related to the development of the
environmental goods and services sector (EGSS) are also highlighted, as are the already
mentioned green jobs. In the discussed area, innovation, in particular eco-innovation, that
aims to reduce pollution is of great importance in the microeconomic aspect, the enterprise,
as well as in the macroeconomic aspect, the whole economy [28].
Green economy is oriented toward renewable energy sources, the so-called green
energy sources [
29
], which are the subject of many climate conferences and symposiums.
Such a turning point for the development of the renewable energy sector was the 2015
conference in Paris (COP21), which resulted in the signing of the Paris Agreement and
the cooperation of countries from around the world. The long-term goal of the agreement
is to stop the global average temperature from rising to below 2
◦
C compared to pre-
industrial times and to take measures to keep it below 1.5
◦
C. The agreement came into
force on 4 November 2016, when at least 55 countries responsible for at least 55% of global
greenhouse gas emissions ratified the agreement’s findings, and it has since been ratified by
all European Union countries [
30
]. The Paris Agreement set a major challenge for Europe,
according to which the continent is to become the world’s first climate-neutral geographic
area by 2050. The green transition is described by a set of mechanisms and associated
actions, outlined in the European Green Deal on 11 December 2019. The document outlines
energy strategies for a safe, sustainable, and low-carbon economy [
31
], and its effects are
already being seen in the rise of renewable energy deals as consolidations in the value chain
and increased deal activity in the energy industry. It turns out that 144 of the 174 M&A
deals since December 2020 involved renewable energy assets or companies [32].
These transactions represent a response from the market to the necessity of transfor-
mation from a brown to a green economy. It is a path that requires active environmental
management (risk management, investment in natural capital), realization of environmen-
tal sustainability (eco-efficiency), and the decoupling of economic growth from increasing
resource consumption through innovation and demand shift [
33
]. Accordingly, the aim of
the research, which was to identify the motives for mergers and acquisitions in the energy
sector after the introduction of green economy elements in Western Europe, was identified.
We assume that there is a high probability that these market transactions were triggered by
a change in environmental policy worldwide.
Energies 2022,15, 1065 5 of 17
3. Review of Selected Research Results on the Motives of Mergers and Acquisitions in
the Energy Sector
Business acquisitions are undertaken based on several motives of a different nature and
arising from different sources. It should also be remembered that it is rare for such processes
to be determined by single motives. Such complex processes are most often the result of
bundled motives, in which profit and development are the dominant ones in this case.
The motives for concluding M&A transactions can also be divided into offensive and
defensive ones. The former direct the buyer to take over a significant number of entities
from various market segments in a not too-long period. They are used by entities with
good financial conditions and strong market positions in which the managerial staff is
characterized by a relatively high appetite for risk. The latter, defensive ones, are to help
defend the company’s position in the face of increasing competition, protect the buyer’s
export markets, and help avoid trade barriers [34] (pp. 110–112).
The motives for the implementation of M&A processes can be divided, for example,
into those that are external to a given entity, i.e., generated by the environment in which
a given entity operates, and those that are internal, most often related to the pursuit of
improving the functioning of the enterprise, generating new market opportunities, and
gaining new competitive advantages. It is worth noting here that international mergers
and acquisitions as methods of implementing the strategy of increasing the company’s
international competitiveness are widely used in the energy sector. To confirm this fact, it is
worth citing the data according to which the share of M&A in the energy sector amounted
to 13.7% of all transactions in terms of value and 7.2% of the number of the most expensive
transactions that took place in the years 1985–2015 in the world economy. The largest M&A
transactions in the analyzed period took place in the United States, Great Britain, France,
Canada, and Spain. For example, the largest deals in recent years were made between such
market giants as Exxon Corp. and Mobil Corp. in 1998, Dutch Petroleum Co. and Shell
Transport & Trading Co. in 2004, Royal Dutch Shell PLC and BG Group PLC in 2015, and
General Electric Co. and Baker Hughes Inc. in 2016. This trend not only covers the broadly
understood traditional energy sector but increasingly continues to apply to actors in the
field of renewable energy, especially solar and wind energy [
3
,
35
]. It is worth noting that
there are fundamentally different motives that drive the actions of buyers—this is what we
will focus on in this article—while other motives are behind the actions of sellers [36,37].
When analyzing M&A motives of an external nature, it should be remembered that
the energy market is created by both domestic, macro-regional energy systems, industry
markets, and the actions of global players both in terms of supply and demand [
38
].
Therefore, on the list of external motives of M&A processes, determining the “buy” answer
to a typical question about the ways of company development, “Make or buy?”, the
following should be mentioned first of all [2,3,39–43]:
•
Globalization of sales markets, related to the uniformization and californiation of needs;
•
Technological globalization, especially in the most expansive industries; implementa-
tion of the Smart Grid concept in energy systems, significantly affecting the cost side
of energy production;
•
A massive increase in energy demand and, at the same time, a special development,
also with the support of the state, of some energy sources (shale gas, liquefied natural
gas, nuclear, and renewable energy) with a simultaneous decrease in the use of coal;
•
Denationalization, demonopolization, and privatization in the energy sector and
a striving to diversify the sources of energy supplies;
•
Striving to maximize the scale and scope of production to be able to compete in
global markets;
•
Emphasis on ecology and, hence, stringent environmental requirements and emission
obligations in the energy supplier sector, including subsequent international agree-
ments, such as the Paris Climate Agreement of 22 April 2016 on the regulation of
activities aimed at reducing carbon dioxide emissions, or the program adopted in New
York in September 2015 for ensuring a sustainable future and sustainable development
Energies 2022,15, 1065 6 of 17
goals—significantly increasing the interest in markets with access to “clean energy”,
but also significantly increasing the costs of energy companies;
•
Growing economic and political unrest: oil and currency crises, high business cycle
volatility, shortening of product life cycles, and COVID-19.
Internal motives for which the buyer undertakes M&A activities can be divided into
several groups. First of all, these are technical and operational motives, among which
special attention should be paid to increasing the efficiency of management, which may
take place because of various restructuring activities undertaken in the combined entity as
part of post-trade integration. This may be, for example, the introduction of new products
to the portfolio, technology transfer and capability [
4
,
44
], abandoning activities of marginal
importance, or changing strategic priorities. Another particularly important motive from
this group is the pursuit of benefits related to operational synergy [
45
]. This can happen, for
example, because of the economies of scale—when the acquisition takes place horizontally
and concerns competitors [
46
] or because of technical integration within processes carried
out in a vertical system. It is worth noting that the motives related to the pursuit of synergy
effects and, thus, the reduction of operating costs were the dominant motives in the energy
sector in the case of transactions concluded in 1995–2010 [2,47,48].
The second large group of motives for the implementation of M&A processes are
market and marketing motives. They are primarily a manifestation of the desire to increase
the potential [
49
,
50
] for building a dominant position for the future, so that in the conditions
of global competition they use what globalization provides and do not lose by it. This
position can be built by increasing market share, eliminating competition, increasing
added value, increasing originality, filling gaps in the product portfolio, and even entering
completely new areas of activity [
51
]. It is this group of motives that in the last decade has
become the main driver of companies from the energy sector toward concluding M&A
transactions. Transactions of this type are now providing entities in this sector with greater
development opportunities, ensuring supply in the face of the significantly increasing
demand for green energy and the progressive transformation of the energy sector toward
renewable sources [2].
Another important group of M&A motives are financial. Within this group of motives,
it is worth distinguishing two in a special way. The first is to make a better valuation
of the value of the acquired company in relation to that made by the market. An entity
whose value is underestimated by the market is, thus, particularly attractive to a potential
buyer, the purchase of which is, in a way, a market opportunity worth exploiting. In the
second case, it is about tax savings—the acquisition of a company incurring a loss can
be used to reduce the taxation of profit after the acquisition. Other reasons for this type
of transaction of a financial nature include, for example, an increase in the possibility of
incurring liabilities in the case of merged entities, or the possibility of using cheaper sources
of financing because the transaction lowers the risk for lenders [
52
]. What is characteristic
of transactions concluded based on financial motives is that the intended effects of these
transactions can be achieved even in the absence of other benefits from the M&A process.
Their fulfillment does not require difficult, costly, and, importantly, often unsuccessful
post-transaction integration. Although this group of motives often becomes the basis for
concluding M&A transactions in other sectors, it seems to be of less importance in the
energy sector [53,54].
The last group of motives driving buyers in M&A processes are managerial. Among
other motives, the latter, although they are not of great importance for the shareholders
themselves, often do not provide greater chances for the company’s success in the future,
but they are a particularly important element of the global puzzle that determines the choice
of this form of company development. Importantly, in the case of this type of process,
there may also be problems described in the framework of the agency theory, consisting of
a significant difference between the motives of the owners of the entity and the motives of
the managers they employ [55].
Energies 2022,15, 1065 7 of 17
The abovementioned classification of the M&A motives was prepared based on the
work of M. Lewandowski [
56
]. These motives include, for example, an increase in the
prestige and power of management associated with sitting on the management board of
a much larger entity, which is growing at an exponential pace, and thus a significant increase
in remuneration, as well as a lowering of the level of management risk and an increase
of the freedom to act in the face of potentially diluting shareholding
[56,57] (pp. 80–81)
.
The problem is smaller, if these motives fulfill a complementary function, in which case
they may even be desirable, as they may constitute an additional bonus, building the
involvement of the managerial staff in the implementation of the process. Such a situation
may occur, for example, as part of an MBO management buyout transaction [
58
]. What is
worse is when these motives become dominant, in the absence of other justifications of the
sensibility of the transaction. Such cases can most often be dealt with at times of significant
increases of the occurrence of this type of process within successive M&A waves when
emotional motives begin to dominate rational analysis. As economic history teaches, this
usually ends in a deplorable manner.
4. Research Procedure
The research procedure proposed in this paper was prepared based on the proprietary
model of identifying M&A motives. The model used in this work was designed and
developed as part of the research method used in the research, “The development of
the technology companies. The M&A perspective” [
6
]. This qualitative research method
derives from various data sources, maximizing chance to accurately identify the leading
motives behind each M&A transaction. The main goal is to verify the hypothesis provided
in the previous part of this paper. First, the authors aim to identify the leading M&A
motives behind M&A transactions conducted by Western European companies from the
electrical energy generation sector and identify how those motives have been changing
within the last 7 years as a result of the Paris Agreement on climate change, accepted by the
world leaders during the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference. This will allow
us to verify the hypothesis that the themes of mergers and acquisitions have changed from
motives close to the views related to energy generation in traditional systems (black energy
in large monopolistic systems) to motives close to green energy, and to understand how the
companies operating in the electrical energy generation sector reacted to the agreement
and how it changed their overall, long-term strategies. Moreover, by analyzing the leading
motives behind the M&A transactions, the authors aim to identify the key M&A motive
changes in particular Western European countries.
To achieve those goals the authors proposed the research procedure described in
Figure 1below. The research procedure was divided into three main stages: designing
the research criteria, preparing the list of M&A transactions, and identifying the motives
behind the M&A transactions.
In the first part, the authors defined the clear boundaries of the sector. Many companies
are operating in energy-related sectors; however, their main source of revenue varies from
electricity distribution or transmission to oil, gas, or coal exploration. For the purpose of
this research, the authors focused on companies making revenues predominantly from
electrical energy generation utilities. As defined above, only companies from Western
European countries were included in the scope of this research. The authors focused on
the biggest economies in the region, based on the country populations (including the most
populated countries) and the strategically significant roles of the companies from the sector
(the number of companies, their market value and revenues). Representatives from the
following countries were included in the scope of this research: Germany, France, the
United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, and Luxembourg. Due to
data limitation, the authors focused on M&A transactions conducted by public companies
only because of various regulatory obligations around transparency and disclosure to all
shareholders of the rationale behind strategic decisions. Such an approach will significantly
increase a chance for accurate identification of the strategic rationale behind each M&A
Energies 2022,15, 1065 8 of 17
transaction and help to understand the true M&A motives. The last step of the first stage
of the research procedure was to prepare the comprehensive list of the possible motives
behind M&A transactions, which were then grouped into four main themes: operational,
market, financial, and managerial motives.
Figure 1. Research procedure. Source: own.
The second part of the research procedure related to the list of M&A transactions was
research sample. Using publicly available data sourced through a search engine (Google
Search) from news articles, press releases, and companies’ reports, the authors identified
a list of the M&A transactions announced from 1 January 2015 to 19 November 2021 by
the Western European companies operating in the electrical energy generation sector. For
the purpose of this paper, an M&A transaction was defined as an investment in a target
company or strategic asset, after which the acquirer will procure at least a 51% shareholding
in the target company or strategic asset. Then, using various publicly available data sources,
the authors harvested the data (such as the value of the transaction and the country of the
target company/asset) about each transaction.
Last, using various similar publicly available data sources, each transaction was ana-
lyzed to identify the M&A motives. For each transaction, the authors identified two M&A
motives: one leading and one secondary. To maximize the chances of accurately identifying
the M&A motives, the following data sources were analyzed:
Energies 2022,15, 1065 9 of 17
•News articles;
•Press releases;
•Companies’ quarterly reports;
•
Transcripts of the calls from the press conferences held because of an M&A trans-
action announcement;
•
Experts’ opinions—the study enabled the expansion of knowledge in the field of M&A
motives of the companies from the electricity generation sector, helping to verify the
hypothesis, and it included information about:
•The most common M&A motives in the electrical energy generation sector;
•
How those motives have been changing over the last 6 years, since the Paris Agreement
on climate change;
•
The differences between M&A motives in transactions conducted by companies from
different Western European countries.
5. Results of Our Own Research of the M&A Motives Identified in the M&A
Transactions Conducted by Companies from the Electrical Energy Generation Sector
The authors analyzed 95 announced M&A transactions conducted by public Western
European companies during the period from 1 January 2015 to 19 November 2021. Table 1
below presents the key information about the research sample: the number of transactions, the
biggest transaction (based on the value of the M&A transaction), the number of transactions
announced by representatives of each Western European country, and the number of M&A
transactions announced every year. The research sample was dominated by three holding
companies: Electricite de France SA and Engie SA from France, and the Drax Group from
the United Kingdom. Together they were responsible for conducting 52 M&A transactions in
a given period. Electricite de France SA, French-state-owned, is one of world’s top electric
utilities producing, transmitting, distributing, importing, and exporting electricity. Engie SA
produces, transports, stores, and distributes natural gas. It also offers energy management
and engineering services. The Drax Group is a UK renewable energy company.
Table 1. Key information about the research sample.
Information Details
Number of M&A transactions in the research sample 95
The biggest M&A transaction in the research sample
Acquisition of Innogy SE by E.ON SE
Number of M&A
transactions announced
by companies from
particular countries
Germany 8
France 49
United Kingdom 10
Italy 10
Spain 7
Switzerland 2
Denmark 4
Norway 4
Luxembourg 1
Number of M&A
transactions announced
each year
2015 10
2016 9
2017 10
2018 20
2019 15
2020 14
2021 * 17
* Transactions announced until 19 November 2021. Source: own research.
Energies 2022,15, 1065 10 of 17
The identified motives were divided into two categories: leading and secondary. The
results of the analysis are presented in Figure 2below. The most popular M&A motive,
identified as the leading motive of 28 M&A transactions and as a secondary motive of 10,
was “business risk diversification”. This motive was observed predominantly in the M&A
transactions in which the acquirer was purchasing another company or strategic assets
operating in green energy, i.e., wind or solar panel farms. Very often, companies decided
to conduct an M&A transaction to acquire new electrical energy generation assets, to
strengthen production capacity, diversify the source of the energy (wind farms, solar panels,
etc.), and spread the business across different jurisdictions to diversify the risk in relation
to weather conditions. Another popular motive refers to an increase in market share,
usually while entering new, geographical markets or consolidating the market through
the acquisition of small energy-generating companies. Operational synergy and technical
integration benefits were the most popular secondary M&A motives. Companies from the
electrical energy generation sector quite often acquire companies that provide services from
earlier parts of the sector value chain, so as to reduce the risk related to relying on suppliers
or to combine the technical knowledge from the synergy. Another popular secondary
motive was the “increase and complementarity of the skills and competencies”.
Figure 2.
The frequency of the occurrence of M&A motives in the transactions conducted
by the public companies from the electrical energy generation sector during the period
1 January 2015–19 November 2021 in the research sample.
The 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference was held at the end of that year.
The authors analyzed the motives behind the M&A transactions in the years
2015–2021
to
identify changes in the most important motives driving the transactions. The calculations
were made based on how often the specific motives were identified as leading or as
secondary in all M&A transactions announced in a given year. For most of the analyzed
period, business risk diversification was the most important motive, as presented in Table 2.
Companies usually tried to diversify their energy production capacities by acquiring other
Energies 2022,15, 1065 11 of 17
plants and farms, and use their renewable energy sources. This slightly changed during
the years 2019 and 2020 when it was classified (respectively) as the third and second most
important motives. Another motive, which has been gaining significance in the last 4 years,
is the increase in market share, proving the ongoing consolidation across the sector.
Table 2.
The most important M&A motives identified in M&A transactions in the research sample,
grouped by year.
Year The Most Important
M&A Motive
The Second Most
Important M&A
Motive
The Third Most
Important M&A
Motive
2015 Business risk
diversification
Increase and
complementarity of the
material resources
Increase and
complementarity of the
skills and competencies
2016 Business risk
diversification
Increase and
complementarity of the
skills and competencies
Increase in
management efficiency
2017 Business risk
diversification Scale benefits Operational synergy and
technical
integration benefits
2018 Business risk
diversification
Increase and
complementarity of the
material resources Increase in market share
2019 Entering into the
new sectors
Increase and
complementarity of the
skills and competencies
Business risk
diversification
2020 Increase in market share Business risk
diversification
Operational synergy and
technical
integration benefits
2021 Business risk
diversification Increase in market share Increase and
complementarity of the
skills and competencies
Source: own, based on proprietary research.
As discussed earlier, the research samples were dominated by the French and United
Kingdom companies, but also by those from Germany, Spain, and Italy. M&A transactions
conducted by companies from those countries accounted for 87% of the M&A transactions
included in the research sample. Table 3below presents the most important M&A motives
identified in transactions conducted by companies from a given country. Business risk
diversification was the dominant motive in M&A conducted by Spanish, British, and Italian
companies. French companies were usually driven by the increase and complementarity
of skills and competencies and German ones by operational synergy and the technical
integration benefits. In some of the countries taken into consideration, it is possible
to identify differences in the indication of M&A motives. They may result from the
specific features of the current energy economies conducted in these countries. France is
such an example because the energy sector is dominated by a few companies, which are
historically used and owned by the government. Moreover, nuclear energy still has a high
share in the sector. Most of the analyzed M&A transactions of the French companies allude
to the use of the possessed competences to develop the economies of scale of the already
possessed potential, mainly hydropower, and only recently of the purchase of wind farms.
That is why the “business risk diversification” motive is the second most important M&A
motive. In Spain (similarly to South America), the M&A transactions are predominantly
purchases of solar and wind farms. Again, this is determined by the current development
directions of the energy sector, which is mainly in the geographical dimension (increases in
the market shares in Spain and South America). The ban on the development of nuclear
energy and compulsory decommissioning of nuclear power plants introduced in 2002 had
a decisive influence on the development of the energy sector in Germany [
59
]. Hence, the
motives of M&A mainly come back to operational and technological changes in the sector.
In the United Kingdom and Italy, the main motives are in line with the overall results for
Energies 2022,15, 1065 12 of 17
the entire analyzed group of transactions. This is due to the lack of fossil fuels in these
countries (except the gas from the North Sea) and the need to comply with green-energy
directives without any historical or geographic restrictions.
Table 3.
The most important M&A motives identified in M&A transactions in the research sample,
grouped by country.
Country The Most Important
M&A Motive
The Second Most
Important M&A
Motive
The Third Most
Important M&A
Motive
France
Increase and
complementarity of
the skills and
competencies
Business risk
diversification Increase in
market share
Spain Business risk
diversification Increase in
market share
Increase and
complementarity of
the material resources
Germany Operational synergy
and technical
integration benefits
Business risk
diversification Increase in
market share
United Kingdom Business risk
diversification Scale benefits Operational synergy
and technical
integration benefits
Italy Business risk
diversification
Increase and
complementarity of
the material resources
Scale benefits
Source: own, based on the proprietary research.
As presented above, business risk diversification was the most popular M&A motive
identified in a research sample. The authors analyzed what secondary motives usually
accompanied those transactions. The results presented in Figure 3below show that the
following three motives were identified the most often: the increase and complementarity
of skills and competencies, operational synergy and the technical integration benefits, and
the increase and complementarity of the material resources.
The M&A motives presented in the previous part of this paper were classified into
specific M&A motive categories, as presented in Section 3. The operational motives refer
to operational activities conducted by the company. Market motives are related to the
competitive position of the company in the sector. Financial motives include taking ad-
vantage of the current, good financial position of the company, and the opportunity to
acquire undervalued assets or to get bargain power in relation to getting funding with
better conditions. Managerial motives usually refer to the personal motives of the senior
management of the acquiring company.
Finally, all the motives behind M&A transactions, grouped in line with the categories
described above, were analyzed from the perspective of being the leading or secondary
motives. The results are presented in Figure 4below. The frequency of market and
operational motives being the leading M&A motives was similar (49% vs. 43%); however,
a significant difference was observed in relation to secondary M&A motives, as 73% of
those motives were classified as operational M&A motives.
Energies 2022,15, 1065 13 of 17
Figure 3.
The frequency of occurrence of the secondary M&A motives in the transactions led by
business risk diversification, conducted by public companies from the electrical energy generation
sector during the period 1 January 2015–19 November 2021 in the research sample.
Figure 4.
The frequency of occurrence of the leading and secondary M&A motives in the transactions
conducted by the public companies from the electrical energy generation sector during the period
1 January 2015–19 November 2021 in the research sample, grouped by the motive categories.
6. Discussion and Conclusions
6.1. Discussion of the Results
Pursuing the goal set out at the beginning of the article, which was to define the
main motives for the implementation of M&A processes in the energy sector in Western
Europe after the introduction of green economy elements, by looking at the results of the
empirical research presented in the article, we can conclude that entities in this sector
undertake such activities mainly for the purpose of achieving a stabilization of activities
based on the diversification of business risk. This may be related to the fact that this
risk undergoes numerous changes resulting from the transformation of this sector toward
increasing the use of renewable energy sources and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Energies 2022,15, 1065 14 of 17
Government regulations and the influence of political factors make the environment of
energy enterprises less and less stable. Entering a new sector or increasing market share,
which have emerged as the leading premises for mergers and acquisitions, are, from the
point of view of strategic decisions, expressions of a striving to strengthen one’s position
and, indirectly, to reduce risk. Thus, market motives overtook operational motives, which
were considered more significant in the period from 1995 to 2010 [
2
]. In this way, the authors
verified the hypothesis with regards to the change of strategic priorities—from those related
to development within the so-called black energy toward building the potential of entities
in the area of green methods of production. It should be remembered, however, that the
competitiveness of energy entities in Europe is embedded in the fabric of international
agreements related to energy exchange, in which the largest market players have the best
negotiating positions. Therefore, some operational motives remained important, as the use
of economies of scale or targeting the use of network effects contribute to a certain extent,
though not as much as they once did, to achieving greater efficiency while increasing the
value of the enterprise [
2
]. To summarize, the tendency toward mergers and acquisitions
in the energy sector is significant and well-grounded in market conditions. Building
a market position indirectly translates into operational efficiency grounded in access to
complementary technical resources, including a limited transmission network. A large
entity that builds a synergy of cooperation with other entities through acquisition and
integration may obtain much better rates and operational capacities in energy exchange.
Due to an inability to store energy from renewable energy sources, access to the transport
layer is becoming one of the most important factors in building operational efficiency.
It should also be emphasized that modern technologies, e.g., smart grids, IoT, or asset
management systems, which allow us to solve many operational problems faced by energy
companies undergoing transformation, are of increasing importance. Excess employment,
the requirement of dispersed supervision, and the modernization of assets, or the need to
cope with modern methods of energy exchange, are difficult challenges for the majority of
large state-owned energy entities. The acquisitions dictated by technological considerations
are therefore a natural response to this situation.
The generally low level of interest rates in European countries that lasted from 2015 to
2020 and the related availability of capital were conducive to mergers and acquisitions in the
energy market. Therefore, financial motives appeared in a significant minority and were more
a use of market opportunities than of efforts to improve the financial condition of enterprises.
However, their importance cannot be ignored because M&A transactions in the pure energy
sector are characterized by high value, so the premises related to financial optimization in
the field of taxes, cash surplus, or the lowering of the cost of capital take place here. When
taking over smaller technological entities, in connection with increasing operational efficiency,
we deal with smaller transactions with operational motives that are more visible than the
financial motives, which is also reflected in the presented research results.
The last group of analyzed motives were the managerial motives, which, although in
a minority, held a stable position in both groups of primary and secondary M&A motives. This
is dictated by the fact that the government has a fundamental influence on energy companies
and the managers of these companies. In this case, one can observe the tendency to increase
the scope of the power, remuneration, and general prestige of the company, while maintaining
compliance with all regulations resulting from the laws of a given country.
6.2. Conclusions
Summarizing the obtained results, we can state that they emphasize the importance of
mergers and acquisitions in the energy sector. They are becoming an important element
of the energy companies’ responses to changes in the environment. This variability is
a derivative of government decisions resulting from international agreements. In response
to these changes, over which enterprises have little influence, decisions are made on
a market basis to increase the competitiveness and efficiency of the entities’ operations.
Market motives are now becoming key. The most important M&A theme, however, is
Energies 2022,15, 1065 15 of 17
related primarily to the pursuit of diversification of business risk, which is conditioned by
the need to maintain the energy security of economies, as well as a response to the changing
environmental conditions related to the transformation of the energy sector. Therefore, the
most important practical conclusion from the research is the confirmation of the changes
taking place in the energy sector related to the departure from coal-based energy toward
changes initiated at the conference in Paris in 2015. The identified M&A motives clearly
indicate this direction of change. Since the analysis concerned mergers and acquisitions
in highly developed countries, it should be expected that these changes will take place
in other countries as well. However, this should be the subject of further research. The
presented conclusions are the most important practical contributions. They are all the more
important in a situation where the importance of the energy sector in the world and its
impact on other sectors of the economy is growing.
In the conducted research, the analysis of the available documentation was used and
the evaluations of the transactions were carried out on its basis, taking into account the
dominant motives for conducting them. The proposed methodological approach allows us
to confirm the adopted hypothesis for the analyzed group of transactions.
The most valuable, theoretical part of the research is the analysis of the factors influencing
the choice of the M&A motives. The research analyzed the impact of changes resulting from
radical changes in the world’s energy policy. The results obtained from a well-defined group of
analyzed mergers and acquisitions (key countries, key companies, and significant transaction
value) allowed the credibility of the study to increase. Therefore, it is worth emphasizing the
selection of the sample. This is a significant contribution to this work.
In the literature on the subject, there is little research aimed at identifying the motives
for transforming economic sectors. Most often, the subject of research are entire sectors,
but without indicating specific contexts. The proposed research fills this gap. It indicates
the need to analyze M&A motives in the context of the impact of specific factors that
may trigger such changes. In this way, we obtain results that allow us to evaluate the
effectiveness of the impact of selected factors. This is also a significant value of this research
from the perspective of the theory of scientific research.
The conducted research also proves the usefulness of the proposed method of ex-
amining the use of open-source intelligence elements, in this case the analysis of press
documents and financial results published in accordance with the rules of public markets.
Public companies have to be transparent. In addition, their stock exchange indicators
minimize the influence of many market and internal factors. Thanks to these features,
we obtain certainty about the assessments of statements and opinions contained in these
documents. Of course, this mainly applies to public companies, not to private companies.
The energy sector in many countries is (and, in many, was) state-owned. This need and
the usefulness of this type of research constitute other contributions of the research results
contained in this work.
In the case of the energy sector analysis, this research it is worth continuing even for
other groups of countries, continents, or countries selected according to the degree of their
development, or for other countries, especially those that dominate the global economy
in generating CO
2
, i.e., the USA and China. Moreover, it is worthwhile to continue this
research to more precisely define the pace of internalization of macroeconomic factors
by the energy sector. It is also worth indicating in subsequent studies which methods of
exerting influence are the most effective. Were these changes determined, for example, by
legal solutions or financial instruments in the form of CO
2
certificates, or by the pressure of
public opinion or of the media of social communication?
In the coming years, the energy sector will be a key sector of the world economy,
where breakthrough innovations will take place, forced by the pressure of public opinion
on environmental activities. This is also the sector in which completely new business
models of energy generation, transmission, and consumption will be created. It is here
that the key decision will finally have to be made about whether the energy sector must
still be a regulated or a market sector. At the same time, marketization does not have to be
Energies 2022,15, 1065 16 of 17
pejorative. In modern economies, the market character can mean sustainable development,
the development of alignment with ecosystem strategies, and development positively
influencing the development of other sectors. Treating the energy sector as a sector in
the service of other sectors unnecessarily destroys the reputation of the sector as a sector
that can be a vehicle for development and progress. In the opinion of the authors, the
above-mentioned challenges can and should be the subject of further research.
Author Contributions:
Conceptualization—all authors; empirical research methodology—K.B.; crit-
ical analysis of the literature on the subject—A.S., B.J. and K.J.; formal analysis and empirical
research—K.B. and J.N. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Funding:
The project is financed by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education in Poland under
the programme “Regional Initiative of Excellence” 2019–2022 project number 015/RID/2018/19 total
funding amount 10 721 040,00 PLN.
Institutional Review Board Statement: Not applicable.
Informed Consent Statement: Not applicable.
Data Availability Statement: Not applicable.
Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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