Shareholders in UK's Electricity North West mull selling stakes - sources

Korea Electric Power

13/10/2023 12:04

By Andres Gonzalez and Kane Wu
       LONDON/HONG KONG, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Shareholders in
British power distribution company Electricity North West (ENWL)
are exploring a potential sale of their stakes in the network
operator, according to three people familiar with the matter.
    The power network operator is owned by a consortium of
investors led by Japan's Kansai Electric Power Co. (Kepco)
 9503.T   and investment fund Equitix, which both own 40%
stakes, according to the company's annual report. 
    Several shareholders are looking to sell their stakes,
including Equitix, the people said.
    Investment bank Jefferies has been tasked with sounding out
buyers for the business, the people said, speaking on condition
of anonymity. The process is still in its early stages, two of
the people said. 
    ENWL, Kepco, Equitix and Jefferies declined to comment. 
    If a deal comes about it would follow a series of other
energy infrastructure transactions in Britain. Last year, SSE
 SSE.L  sold a 25% stake in its transmission network business to
Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board and in 2021 PPL Corporation
sold its UK utility business Western Power Distribution (WPD) to
National Grid for 7.8 billion pounds ($9.5 billion).
    A sale of stakes in ENWL could value the company between
around 3.5 billion and 4 billion pounds, including debt of 1.8
billion pounds as of March 2023, said two of the people.
    The Regulatory Asset Value (RAV) of ENWL, a valuation
measure for companies with regulated revenues, stood at 2.2
billion pounds, according to ENWL's latest annual results.   
    ENWL's network spans 57,415 kilometres (35,676 miles) and it
has announced plans to invest 2 billion pounds in upgrading and
maintaining it as part of a 2023-2028 business plan. 
    The network delivers electricity to roughly five million
customers across 2.4 million premises in northwest England, and
employs more than 2,000 staff, according to the plan. 
    ($1 = 0.8122 pounds)

 (Reporting by Andres Gonzalez, Kane Wu
Additional reporting by Ekaterina Golubkova and Roxanne Liu, 
Editing by Anousha Sakoui and Mark Potter)
 ((andres.gonzalez@thomsonreuters.com; +44 (0) 7551 790019;
Reuters Messaging:
andres.gonzalez.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))