KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian state power firm Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) has scrapped its bid for the retail arm of Ireland’s Bord Gais Eireann, the TNB’s chief financial officer said.
“We want to focus on our current projects, especially domestic ones,” Fazlur Rahman Zainuddin said at a media briefing after announcing TNB’s fourth-quarter ended August 31 earnings results.
TNB saw net profit for the quarter plunge to RM211.8 million from RM1.07 billion in the corresponding quarter last year, due to higher operating costs and a weaker ringgit.
Several other unnamed utility companies, infrastructure funds and private equity firms have also put in bids to buy Bord Gais Energy.
Bord Gais Eireann announced in May that it had started the sale process for Bord Gais Energy, which sources said will fetch about 1.5 billion euros (US$2.07 billion).
The deal is part of plan by Ireland’s government to sell state assets worth three billion euros as part of its European Union/International Monetary Fund bailout.
RBC Capital Markets is financial adviser to Bord Gais Eireann.
The Irish state-owned group wants to complete the sale by the end of the year.
Bord Gais Energy has a 445 megawatt power plant, a portfolio of onshore wind assets, and an energy distribution network business in Northern Ireland. — Reuters