Czech billionaire among expected bidders for Irish utility Energia, sources say

Andres Gonzalez and Emma-Victoria Farr, Reuters

Daniel Kretinsky-backed Czech energy group EPH and Japanese trading house Itochu are expected to make preliminary bids for Irish utility Energia Group, according to two sources with knowledge of the situation.

Other expected bidders include investors Ardian, Asterion and P Investments, the people said. Itochu is expected to form a consortium and P Investments may team up with Britain's Octopus Energy, which it is an investor in, one of the people said.

Billionaire Kretinsky is also the co-owner and president of football club Sparta Prague, and director and major shareholder of English football club West Ham United. Kretinsky recently took over the UK postal service Royal Mail, and he holds financial interests in Le Monde and Libération, two daily newspapers in .

A new sale could value Energia Group at more than €2 billion including debt, the sources and a third one said. The group was acquired by private equity firm I Squared for about $1 billion (€880 million) in 2016.

Non-binding offers are due this week, the sources and a fourth one said. All four sources spoke on condition of anonymity because the matter is private.

I Squared, P Investments, Itochu, EPH, Ardian, Asterion all declined to comment. Energia Group referred questions to I Squared and Octopus Energy did not reply immediately to a request for comment.

Energia Group, which supplies approximately 17 per cent of Ireland's total electricity requirements, is the latest power company to draw investor interest following the acquisition of Electricity North West by Iberdrola last year.

The company is an integrated utility with investments in renewables, power distribution, data centres and gas turbines.

Energia Group recently secured permission to build a data centre in Dublin allowing its sale process to go ahead, three of the sources said.

Reuters first reported last year that I Squared was exploring selling Energia.