Guardian Unlimited Business Gazprom buys into UK gas supply market

Terry MacalisterThursday June 22, 2006The Guardian
Russia's Gazprom has broken into the British gas supply market by buying up Pennine, a small but ambitious company that includes Debenhams and William Hill among its customers.
The move, announced today, underlines the growing ambitions of Gazprom in Britain and is likely to increase speculation that the Russians will finally bid for a larger UK utility, such as Centrica, parent of British Gas.
The Pennine takeover means 600 customers around Britain will have their gas supplied by a company called GM&T (Gazprom Marketing & Trading) based in Kingston upon Thames, London.