Magic Circle duo lead on UK energy shake-up as E.ON buys OVO

Linklaters and Slaughter and May have landed lead roles on E.ON’s takeover of Ovo Energy in a deal that will create Britain’s largest household energy supplier.

The German energy giant has agreed to acquire Ovo in a transaction reportedly valued at around £600 million, although financial terms were not officially disclosed.

The deal will combine E.ON’s roughly 5.6 million UK customers with Ovo’s 4 million, creating a business serving around 9.6 million households - overtaking Octopus as the country’s biggest gas and electricity supplier by customer numbers.

Magic Circle mandates

Linklaters is advising E.ON on the acquisition, with the team led by energy and utilities partner Chris Staples.

The firm’s UK antitrust head Natura Gracia and counsel Sima Ostrovsky are advising on regulatory and competition aspects of the deal.

Slaughters is acting for long-time client Ovo. The cross-practice team includes corporate partners Alex Dunant and Hemita Sumanasuriya, finance partner Caroline Phillips and competition partner Lisa Wright, alongside lawyers across tax, pensions, IP, financial regulation and real estate.

A major UK energy deal

The transaction marks another major consolidation in the UK energy market.

Ovo previously enlisted Slaughter and May in 2019 when it acquired SSE’s retail energy business in a £500 million deal that transformed the company into one of Britain’s largest suppliers and challenged the dominance of the traditional “big six” energy companies - including British Gas, EDF, E.ON and Scottish Power.

Freshfields advised SSE on that earlier transaction.

E.ON said the acquisition represented a significant investment in the UK market and argued the combined business would help lower customer bills.