Restructuring the European Energy Market through M&As – An Application of the Model of Economic Dominance

In 1998, the European Commission decided to deregulate the national electricity sector with the objective of creating a single energy market. This deregulation involved an important increase in M&As (Mergers & Acquisitions), leading to a large reorganization of the European electricity industry. Using the theory of economic dominance developed by R. Lantner in 1974 - a theory inspired by the graph theory - this article aims at gaining an insight into the M&A strategies of electricity firms in Europe between 1998 and 2003, and the way in which these strategies affected the industry at the European level. We found that European electricity firms increasingly used strategies of M&A to strengthen their economic dominance.