Hongkong Electric eyes stake in world's largest wind farm

Published: 29 Jun 2009 19:02:05 PST

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Jun. 30, 2009 (China Knowledge) - Hongkong Electric Holdings Ltd (HEH)<0006>, an electricity operator controlled by Hong Kong business giant Li Ka-shing, is expected to be one of the four bidders in an auction for a 50% stake in Centrica's wind farm in England, the world's largest wind farm of its kind, the Sunday Times reported.

The newspaper said that Centrica, the parent of British Gas, needs to raise cash to fund its overseas oil field acquisitions. The firm has appointed Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi to raise HK$4.48 billion.

Credit Suisse will handle the auction.

The other three potential bidders are Deutsche Bank's infrastructure arm RREEF, American private equity firm KKR, and China's Datang International Power Generation, according to the report.

HEH, a subsidiary of Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings<1038>, has two wind farms with a total capacity of 97.5 MW in Yunnan and Hebei as well as an 800 kW wind turbine on Lamma Island.

The Hong Kong-listed company reaped HK$7.45 billion in net profit in 2007, up 8.9% year on year.

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