Completion of the acquisition depends on the approval of Drax’s shareholders and approval by the European Commission of the contract for difference (CfD) investment contract awarded to Drax by the UK government. Completion is expected in early 2017 after shareholders have voted.
Opus Energy is the UK’s sixth biggest business energy supplier with 130,000 customers and 8.3 per cent of non-domestic business supply market share. The move will help Drax expand into supplying power to small and medium businesses.
The Opus Energy board said: “We are pleased to announce today that the shareholders of Opus Energy have unanimously agreed to accept Drax’s offer to acquire the whole of the Opus group subject to certain completion conditions.
“The shareholders believe that the offer from Drax provides a unique opportunity which is strategically compelling for the Opus Energy group and which will allow the business to move forward to its next stage of growth.”
Opus Energy says that Drax remains confident about approval of the CfD Investment Contract.
Drax has also announced that it will acquire four open-cycle gas turbine plants with a capacity of 1,200MW for an initial price of 18.5 million pounds.