Blackstone-Backed Sithe Said to Get Final Bids for Asia Plant

Industry: Other 2016-09-29

A group comprising Kuwait Investment Authority and private equity firm CVC Capital Partners is among final bidders for Sithe Global Power LLC’s stake in a Philippine power plant that could fetch at least $500 million, people with knowledge of the matter said.

A consortium of Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC Pte, Malaysian power company Malakoff Corp. and an infrastructure investment fund managed by Macquarie Group Ltd. also made a binding offer, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the process is private. Aboitiz Power Corp., based in the Philippines, is vying for the Blackstone Group LP-backed company’s asset as well, the people said.

Rising demand for electricity in the Asia-Pacific region has been spurring mergers and acquisitions in the energy industry. Announced power and utility deals involving companies in the region totaled $72.4 billion this year, up 19 percent from the $60.6 billion announced in the same period in 2015, according to Bloomberg-compiled data.

New York-based Sithe is selling a more than 60 percent stake in Mariveles power plant, a 600-megawatt facility. A decision on the winning bidder for the facility, located in Bataan province, west of the Philippine capital of Manila, is expected to be announced in October, one of the people said.

Sithe Global and the Philippines’s Ayala Corp co-own the Mariveles plant as well as a stake of about 40 percent in Dinginin power station, a 1,300-megawatt facility that’s being built.

Representatives for KIA and Malakoff didn’t immediately respond to e-mailed requests for comment, while Blackstone, Macquarie Group, CVC and GIC declined to comment in e-mailed responses to Bloomberg queries. “I cannot comment at this time,” Aboitiz Power Executive Vice President Miguel Aboitiz said in a mobile-phone text message.

KIA, one of the world’s oldest sovereign wealth funds, is targeting global infrastructure projects after taking part in a consortium that bought the London City Airport this year, Chairman Anas Al-Saleh said in May. CVC Capital, whose holdings include a stake in Formula One, agreed to take bereavement care provider Nirvana Asia Ltd. private in July.