The European Commission (EC) has granted approval for the creation of a $2.2bn (€1.89bn) joint venture (JV) between TotalEnergies in France and Masdar in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The decision was made under the EU Merger Regulation after a simplified merger review procedure, with the EC concluding that the proposal would not pose competition concerns within the European Economic Area due to its limited impact there.
It follows notification of the proposed partnership to the EC on 20 May. The new entity, referred to as JV HoldCo, is structured as a newly created JV in the UAE.
In April, TotalEnergies and Masdar signed a binding agreement to combine their onshore renewable energy activities in nine countries across the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, with each company holding a 50% stake.
The JV will focus on developing, constructing, financing, operating, managing and maintaining large-scale solar photovoltaic plants (excluding commercial and industrial rooftop solar), onshore wind facilities and battery storage projects.
The targeted countries are Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea and Uzbekistan.
According to the companies, the JV will become the exclusive platform for both TotalEnergies and Masdar for these activities in the selected markets.
The organisation will be headquartered at Abu Dhabi Global Market and staffed by approximately 200 employees from both companies.
At launch, the JV will have a 3GW portfolio of operational assets and a pipeline of 6GW in advanced development, expected to be operational by 2030.
Each parent company will contribute assets of comparable value to the partnership.
TotalEnergies operates in more than 130 countries, with business spanning the oil and gas sector, including upstream and downstream activities, as well as renewable energy, power generation and carbon-neutral technologies.
Masdar is engaged in renewable energy and sustainability projects in the UAE and globally, developing and operating utility-scale renewable energy, community grid projects, and providing consultancy and energy storage solutions.
