Brookfield Weighs Bid for Iberian Hydro Assets Owned by China Three Gorges
Brookfield Weighs Bid for Iberian Hydro Assets Owned by China Three Gorges
(Bloomberg) -- Brookfield Asset Management Inc. and Endesa SA are among companies weighing bids for a package of EDP-Energias de Portugal SA electricity assets that could fetch about 2 billion euros ($2.3 billion), people familiar with the matter said.
The Portuguese utility is expecting initial bids later this month for about 2 gigawatts of hydroelectric power projects in Spain and Portugal, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. EDP is also gauging interest from other potential suitors including French utility Engie SA, Iberdrola SA and an infrastructure arm of Macquarie Group Ltd., they said.
No final decisions have been made, and the parties may decide not to proceed with formal offers, the people said. Representatives for EDP, Brookfield, Engie, Endesa, Iberdrola and Macquarie declined to comment.
EDP, part-owned by China Three Gorges Corp., is working to fund an investment plan focused on strengthening its renewable-energy portfolio in the U.S., Europe and Latin America. The Portuguese utility said in March it’s planning to raise more than 6 billion euros from offloading non-core parts of its portfolio and cutting stakes in some projects.
In April, Three Gorges ended its 9.1 billion-euro takeover offer for EDP after the Portuguese utility’s shareholders decided to keep a cap on voting rights. Three Gorges, which is already EDP’s largest shareholder with a 23% stake, has said that it will remain a “long-term strategic investor.”
Activist investor Elliott Management Corp. had said the Three Gorges bid undervalued EDP and called for the Portuguese company to take steps including a sale of its Brazilian unit and a stake in some electricity distribution businesses.
--With assistance from Rodrigo Orihuela and Joao Lima.
To contact the reporters on this story: Dinesh Nair in London at dnair5@bloomberg.net;Manuel Baigorri in Hong Kong at mbaigorri@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Aaron Kirchfeld at akirchfeld@bloomberg.net, Amy Thomson, Ben Scent
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