Russian gas concern Gazprom has acquired Envacom, a German energy and telecommunications firm.
The acquiring Evacom will let Gazprom to enter the retail energy market in Germany and to rival with large energy suppliers E.On and RWE.
Envacom was founded in 1999 and has 500,000 customers. Envacom's telecoms business will be carved out and remain under the sole ownership and control of previous owner Tillman Raith.
Gazprom said the new entity will be called Gazprom Marketing and Trading Retail Germania GmbH, and will market its products and services as Gazprom Energy.
Author: Irina Fomina