Investment fund to buy Irish energy company Viridian

LONDON (Reuters) - Investment management company I Squared Capital will buy Irish energy company Viridian Group Holdings Limited from investment bank Arcapita, it confirmed on Tuesday.

I Squared Capital declined to comment on the value of the deal. The Financial Times newspaper on Monday reported that the acquisition was worth 1 billion euros.

I Squared Capital said in a statement that it would acquire 100 percent of Viridian in an all-cash transaction which it expected to complete in the second quarter of this year.

Viridian has an annual turnover of around 2 billion euros and operates an independent retail arm called Energia which supplies gas and renewable electricity to 60,000 businesses across Ireland.

It also operates Power NI which supplies electricity to around 610,000 businesses and homes in Ireland.

(Reporting by Nina Chestney; editing by Jason Neely)