Japan's Marubeni and French utility Engie, the main shareholders of Singapore-based Senoko Energy, are considering the sale of their stakes, Bloomberg has reported.

The two companies - each holding a 30% stake in the company - are valuing it at $3bn.

The prospective divestment, currently being assessed by financial advisers, could be initiated in February/March 2023.

Engie, Marubeni and Senoko Energy have not commented.

While discussions are still in progress, the shareholders may opt not to proceed with any transaction.

Established in 1977, Senoko Energy is an electricity provider in Singapore.

The company's power station is located in the northern part of the city-state. It has a licensed capacity of 2.64GW and meets 20% of Singapore's electricity demand.

In 2008, Marubeni and Engie, as part of a consortium, acquired Senoko from Temasek for S$3.65bn ($2.7bn), which included taking on S$323m of net debt.

The consortium also featured Kansai Electric Power, Kyushu Electric Power and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation.

The acquisition was part of Temasek's strategy to divest from its wholly-owned power generation companies in Singapore.

The current move by Senoko's owners follows similar actions by Temasek Holdings and Shell, who are also considering the sale of their Singaporean power assets.

Temasek is working with Barclays on selling parts of Pavilion Energy with an estimated value of $2bn.

Shell is also exploring options to divest the Bukom oil refinery.

In October 2023, Marubeni signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the UK Government to invest £10bn in renewable energy projects in the country in the ten years to 2033.

The MOU will see cooperation across offshore wind and green hydrogen projects.

It will support the UK’s 2050 target for net-zero greenhouse gas emissions with plans to develop offshore wind farms with 50GW capacity by 2030.