Berlin to take majority stake in local gas supplier GASAG

FRANKFURT/DUESSELDORF, April 18 (Reuters) -- The German state of Berlin plans to take a majority stake in the capital's gas network as part of a broader ownership change at natural gas supplier GASAG that will push out existing shareholders Vattenfall and Engie.

GASAG, the natural gas supplier to Berlin and some parts of eastern Germany, is co-owned by Germany's largest utility E.ON , which holds a 36.85% stake. Sweden's Vattenfall and France's Engie each hold 31.575%.

GASAG, which had sales of 1.1 billion euros ($1.24 billion) and operating profit of 95.2 million in 2014, also owns Berlin's network operator NBB and supplies more than 600,000 households.

Berlin and E.ON on Monday signed a cooperation agreement to further develop regional gas supply, which includes the planned change in ownership that could see E.ON buy out the other partners and subsequently hand a stake to Berlin.

"E.ON has demonstrated that it can be a motivated and competent partner for the state of Berlin in the field of gas supply," Matthias Kollatz-Ahnen, Berlin's Senator for Finance, said in a statement.

"This partnership provides a strong foundation for accelerating the energy transition in Berlin," he added.

Alternatively, Berlin could buy out Vattenfall and Engie and give E.ON an additional stake, a spokeswoman for Berlin's Senate Department for Finance said.

E.ON declined to comment on whether it was already in talks to buy out GASAG's co-owners.

($1 = 0.8841 euros)

(Reporting by Christoph Steitz and Tom Kaeckenhoff; Editing by Mark Potter)

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