Neas provides customers in six countries in Europe with a route to market and short-term trading optimisation services. The customers together have 2,500 windfarms, solar plants and combined heat and power (CHP) plants, with an installed capacity of approximately 8,600MW.
Neas also provides risk management, supply management and consumption optimisation for wholesale electricity customers and smaller suppliers who do not have trading capabilities of their own.
Centrica said the acquisition was in line with its strategy “to expand its route to market services in Europe, and to continue to utilise and build its knowledge of European energy markets in order to benefit from trading and optimisation activity.”
Neas reported turnover of £2.2 billion and EBITDA of £21 million in 2015.
Centrica chief executive Iain Conn said: “Our new strategy recognises that the energy landscape is rapidly changing, with a trend away from large centralised power generation to decentralised technologies – much of it intermittent renewable generation … this acquisition will allow us to accelerate our energy marketing and trading growth strategy and serve renewable and distributed energy customers at a wholesale level across Europe.”