French power utility Engie and Spanish energy company Repsol have submitted bids to acquire European renewable power company Asterion Energies, Reuters has reported.
Three people aware of the development told the news agency that investment banking firm Greenhill has been appointed for the sale of the Asterion business.
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They added that Greenhill has begun the sale process and is collecting nonbinding offers from interested parties.
Based in Madrid, Asterion is involved in the development of solar and wind projects with a combined capacity of 6GW located across Spain, France and Italy.
Some of its facilities have already begun operations, while other power plants are in various stages of development.
The sale includes a team of 29 Asterion employees.
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By GlobalDataAsterion Energies is owned by the Asterion Industrial Infra I fund and could be valued at up to €750m ($739m) depending on bidders’ interest, according to two of the sources.
These sources noted that Asterion Industrial Infra could choose to keep control of the company if all the offers were deemed to be underwhelming.
In this case, the fund would pursue a so-called continuation fund strategy, under which investment firms would sell stakes in one or more portfolio companies from one fund to another where there are no competitive bids from outside investors.
The bids from Repsol were submitted in response to government and shareholder pressure on the company to reduce its carbon emissions.
Last November, Engie and insurance firm Crédit Agricole Assurances decided to buy a 97.33% stake in Eolia Renovables from Alberta Investment Management Corporation.
In April this year, Repsol signed a deal with Danish energy firm Ørsted to explore the development of floating offshore wind projects in Spain.
The two companies agreed to combine their knowledge to identify and develop wind projects offshore from the Spanish coast.
