Oil giant Shell and Dutch health service pension fund PGGM are working on a joint bid for energy provider Eneco, the AD said on Monday afternoon.

Both companies have pledged to retain Eneco’s green reputation and to broaden its operations in Europe. Eneco, the last Dutch energy firm in public hands, is due to sold via a controlled auction later this year.

‘Our expertise and our financial weight will allow us to expand the company’s position in both the Netherlands and western Europe,’ Shell’s director of new energy Maarten Wetselaar told the paper.

‘We do not want to pile the company full of debt and get a quick return on our investment,’ he said. ‘Some others may have that in mind.’

Frank Roeters van Lennep, PGGM’s head of private investments, said that opportunities to invest in the Netherlands are scarce. ‘We like to invest in the Netherlands but such options are hard to come by,’ he said.

‘They have to be financially sound, that is always a main condition and this is such an opportunity.’

Eneco has two million clients and a workforce of 7,000. It is currently owned by 53 local authorities, of which Rotterdam is the largest.

Value

Eneco’s value is estimated at €2.5bn to €3bn – which would generate almost €1bn for Rotterdam, which has just under 32% of the shares.

According to the Financieele Dagblad, French firms Total and Engie, Italy’s Enel, Japan’s Mitsubishi and Australian investment group Macquarie Infrastructure are also interested in bidding, as is ABP, the giant Dutch civil service pension fund.

The two other big Dutch energy firms, Nuon and Essent, were sold off years ago. Nuon was bought by Swedish state-owned company Vattenfall in 2009 for €10bn and Germany’s RWE bought Essent that same year for €8.3bn.