NM Rothschild continued its strong performance in German M&A as sole adviser to E.On, Germany's largest utility, on the €835m ($938m) sale of Gelsenwasser, Germany's leading water company, following a sealed bid auction.

E.On sold its 80.5% stake in Gelsenwasser to a joint venture of the municipal utilities of Dortmund and Bochum. The other bidders were mid-sized German corporates, and were thought to include a consortium of MVV Energie and Hamburger Wasserwerke (HWW) and waste disposal company Rethmann Entsorgungs. Both Veolia Environnement, the French utility, and RWE pulled out of the running earlier this month.