Energy supplier close to administration
Special Administration for Gazprom's UK subsidiary
According to media reports, Gazprom Marketing and Trading Retail Ltd - whose parent company is majority-owned by the Russian state - had been trying to find a buyer in the wake of the corporate backlash against Russian companies. This included sanctions that have targeted its parent firm.
According to Bloomberg, the company is a prime candidate to be taken into the U.K.’s special administration regime if it fails, to ensure continuity of supply, according to a person familiar with the matter. Officials are closely monitoring the situation at the company, which has more than 30,000 business customers.
Gazprom could become the second business in the energy market to enter into special administration, after Bulb entered into this process in November.
According to Bloomberg, once confirmation of both regulatory and legal approval is received, Teneo is being lined up to oversee the running of the company.
In an emailed statement to Bloomberg last night (21 March), Gazprom’s wholesale trading unit said: “We are in constant contact with our regulator Ofgem and no decision has been taken to appoint a special administrator or supplier of last resort (SOLR) that we know about.
It added it was “entirely normal” for Ofgem to “consider all possible scenarios and formulate plans to respond to whatever events unfold.”
