(Reference Source) – by MARTIJN KLERKS, De Telegraaf
Yesterday was big news. For a long time it was thought that Eneco would be bought by Rabobank or Shell, but where the two hunters fought each other, a third took the loot:
Mitsubishi buys the
Rotterdam energy company for € 4.1 billion. And so, among others, employment agency USG People, asset manager Robeco and beer brewer Grolsch, another Dutch company is taken over by Japanese. No surprise, say Dutch people who are closely involved in trade relations with Tokyo.
That Mitsubishi is now entering the Dutch energy sector is certainly not illogical. The company, mainly known for its cars, actually earns its money from all sorts of things other than cars. “It’s in the financial world, in the energy industry, even in the canned fish,” says Geert Jan Mantel, Chairman of the Dutch-Japanese trade federation Dujat. Mitsubishi’s car branch is on a distance, in a joint venture with Renault and Nissan.
The Japanese are reliable shareholders. “You can’t have better,” says Mantel. “They aim for the long term, and will no longer let a company they take over slip away. And when that happened once, at the Limburg car manufacturer Nedcar, that was neatly dealt with. “