E.ON is selling its Norwegian oil and gas assets to Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman in a deal worth $1.6 billion, as Germany's biggest utility continues to shed assets under a restructuring plan. As part of its major overhaul, E.ON put its North Sea oil and gas exploration and production activities under review, hoping to rake in proceeds from a business where it lacks the critical mass to compete with large oil companies, Reuters reported. Under its restructuring plan, E.ON will spin off its energy trading, oil and gas activities and most of its power generation next year into a new company called Uniper. Fridman's LetterOne fund emerged as the frontrunner to buy E.ON's Norwegian North Sea assets after the Russian was forced to sell his British North Sea assets. The purchase by LetterOne, whose energy fund is headed by former BP boss John Browne, signals a push by the Russian tycoon to expand his fund's oil and gas portfolio. "This acquisition in Norway is a perfect fit to our renewed business strategy," said Thomas Rappuhn, CEO of DEA Deutsche Erdoel AG, which LetterOne bought from E.ON's German peer RWE earlier this year.
