By Andres Gonzalez and Kane Wu
LONDON/HONG KONG (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) 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 (LON:SSE) sold a 25% stake in its transmission network business to Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board and in 2021 PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) sold its UK utility business Western Power Distribution (WPD) to National Grid (LON:NG) 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)