The €9.3bn sale of energy giant Essent to Germany’s RWE depends on the vote of one woman – the single representative of the pro-animal PvdD in Noord-Brabant’s provincial government, the Volkskrant reports on Tuesday.

Provincial councillors are due to vote on the sale on April 24. Noord-Brabant owns 30.8% of Essent and RWE has said the sale will not go through unless 80% of the shares are tendered.
Supporters of the sale – the CDA and Labour – control 26 of the 55 seats on the council. The two Liberal parties, Socialists and left-wing greens are against. Two of the three single-member parties are also opposed to the sale, meaning the PvdD’s Birgit Verstappen holds the balance of power.
‘In principle we are against the deal,’ the paper quotes Verstappen as saying.