By David French, Clara Denina and Arno Schuetze
NEW YORK/LONDON/FRANKFURT, Aug 11 (Reuters) - I Squared
Capital is planning an auction to sell power firm Energia Group
later this year, with the infrastructure fund aiming to secure a
valuation of around 2 billion euros ($2.35 billion) including
debt, sources familiar with the matter said.
Called Viridian Group until a 2019 rebranding, Energia owns
and operates around 1 gigawatt of renewable and conventional
power generation in the Republic of Ireland and Northern
Ireland, and provides gas and electricity to over 750,000
customers, according to its website.
A sale process for Energia is expected to begin later this
year, subject to market conditions, according to four sources,
who spoke on condition of anonymity as the information is not
public.
I Squared and Energia declined to comment.
I Squared acquired Energia in 2016 for 1 billion euros and
ran an unsuccessful process to sell it in 2018. Since then,
Energia has sought to boost its renewable energy portfolio amid
a push by European policymakers to make power production
greener.
European oil producers are also pivoting away from
hydrocarbons, as they aim to make themselves holistic energy
companies, adding a new group of possible buyers for Energia.
BP PLC said last week it planned to reduce its oil
and gas production by 40% by 2030, while massively expanding
into renewable energy, aiming at a 20-fold increase in
renewables generation over the same period.
When Eneco was sold earlier this year to a consortium led by
Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp for 4.1 billion euros, the
Dutch energy firm attracted interest from other oil producers,
including Royal Dutch Shell PLC.
In the year to March 31, Energia Group generated earnings
before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of
157.2 million euros, and had net debt of 714.3 million euros at
that time, according to its annual report.
($1 = 0.8498 euros)
(Reporting by David French in New York, Clara Denina in London,
and Arno Schuetze in Frankfurt; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
