E.ON to sell Spanish business to Macquarie, Kuwait - sources
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German utility E.ON SE is close to selling its Spanish operations for as much as 2.6 billion euros ($3.2 billion) to a joint venture led by Australian infrastructure investor Macquarie Group Ltd , two sources familiar with the matter said on Friday.
The joint venture with the Kuwait Investment Authority's Wren House Infrastructure Management arm, is prepared to pay 2.5-2.6 billion euros, the people said.
One of the sources said that E.ON's audit committee, which also includes members of the supervisory board, would meet on Sunday to finalise the deal.
E.ON and Macquarie declined to comment.
Sources familiar with the matter said last week that E.ON was in exclusive talks with Macquarie and that its bid valued the unit at substantially more than 2 billion euros.
Aiming to cut its 31 billion euros of debts and rake in cash for investment elsewhere, E.ON has been looking to sell its operations in Italy and Spain for over a year, aiming to retreat from southern Europe after an expected boom in demand failed to materialise.
The Spanish business E.ON is looking to sell, which employs about 1,200 staff, includes a 32,000-km (19,900 mile) power distribution network, which E.ON has said is alone worth about 0.8 billion euros, and some 4 gigawatts of generating capacity.
The utility sells power and gas to about 660,000 customers in the country.
Macquarie has said it is looking to expand its portfolio of power assets in Europe, attracted by the guaranteed returns such businesses offer in times of super-low interest rates.
The Wall Street Journal earlier said that Macquarie and Wren House were close to buying E.ON's Spanish assets for about 2.5 billion euros, citing several unnamed sources, adding Macquarie would have 60 percent of the deal, with the rest going to Wren House.
(Reporting by Christoph Steitz, Arno Schuetze in Frankfurt, Emma Thomasson in Berlin and; Editing by Greg Mahlich)
