Cologne/Munich – Energy supplier STEAG, which has some 5,700 employees, completed the legal and operational separation of the group into a black coal division and a green growth division at the beginning of the year, with CMS acting as legal advisor. Following this comprehensive transformation, for which detailed preparations began at the end of 2021, the coal business activities have been brought together in STEAG Power GmbH and its subsidiaries. The renewable energy business, i.e. the green part of the group, is represented by the new Iqony brand. The transformation ensures that STEAG can set out a path for complying with ESG criteria and discontinuing coal-fired power generation. It is also part of preparations for selling the two divisions, with completion planned for 2023.
CMS advised the group on all employment law and pension-related aspects of the split. This included preparing and implementing the allocation of workers employed in “zebra companies” to newly formed organisational units. Through various business transfers, around 2,000 employment contracts were successfully transferred to the target companies in the coal and growth divisions by way of universal and singular succession. Complex and extensive negotiations were held with the STEAG group works council and the IGBCE trade union, building on a longstanding social partnership, that culminated in agreement being reached on a reconciliation of interests, transitional workplace agreements and new works council structures for collective bargaining purposes that also take the upcoming sale into account. Work on the separation at collective bargaining level also included the formation of two wage groups within the relevant employers’ association (AVEW), each with its own tariff scales, to which the companies in the coal business and the growth business respectively are assigned. In addition, the legal support comprised implementing new Supervisory Board structures. On the pension law side, one of the issues was combining the substantial pension liabilities in the coal division while avoiding liability hooks in the growth division. It also involved establishing a new, forward-looking pension system.
CMS is also providing advice on employment and pension law in the context of the sale process, which is currently at the preparatory stage. The sale covers all of STEAG’s foreign holdings in Botswana, Brazil, India, Türkiye and other countries.
CMS Germany
Prof. Björn Gaul, Partner, Cologne
Dr Nina Hartmann, Partner, Munich
Dr Andreas Hofelich, Partner, Cologne
Victoria Kaule, Counsel, Cologne
Marina Bumeder, Senior Associate, Munich
Hanna Kowalski, Associate, Cologne, all Employment
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