E.ON CEO confident Innogy deal will clear regulatory hurdles

ESSEN, Germany (Reuters) - E.ON Chief Executive Johannes Teyssen said on Tuesday he was confident that regulators would approve a plan to split up peer RWE's Innogy business, creating two strong energy sector players out of three companies.

Some antitrust sources and politicians have come out in support of the Innogy plan, arguing there is enough competition in the areas of thermal and renewable generation, networks and distribution to avoid market domination.

Teyssen said at a news conference that he was also confident that regulators would approve the planned sale of E.ON's 46.65 percent stake in Uniper, the unit bundling conventional energy it spun off, to Finnish peer Fortum.

Proceeds of this transactions are meant to go some way towards funding the planned carve-up of Innogy.

(Reporting by Vera Eckert and Chris Steitz; Editing by Maria Sheahan)