Wintershall-DEA: The anatomy of a merger

The Wintershall-DEA deal brings together businesses that in 2017 had combined sales of €4.7bn

At the end of September, almost a year on from the announcement that Wintershall and DEA had agreed in principle to merge, their respective owners—Germany chemicals company BASF and LetterOne, the Luxembourg-based investment fund co-founded by the Russian oligarch Mikhail Fridman in 2013—signed a "definitive transaction agreement". Assuming the merger is approved by the relevant authorities, the transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2019. It will bring together businesses that in 2017 had combined sales of €4.7bn, and oil and gas production of 575,000 boe/d. The merger is expected to generate synergies of at least €200m a year and create a regionally more balanced footprint.