Allianz, Deutsche Bank, Goldman May Raise Vattenfall Grid Offer
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By Aaron Kirchfeld and Nicholas Comfort
Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Allianz SE, Deutsche Bank AG’s RREEF investment fund and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. may raise their bid for Vattenfall AB’s German power grid after earlier talks failed to yield an agreement, said a person familiar with the matter.
The group’s last offer was valued at about 515 million euros ($760 million), said the person, who declined to be identified because the talks are private.
Vattenfall is soliciting new bids after competitor E.ON AG got double the price for its German power grid. The Stockholm- based power company, seeking to reduce debt amassed from the purchase of Nuon NV, is holding talks with more than one bidder after determining a previous offer was too low, spokesman Steffen Herrmann said today.
“E.ON made an example with their sale and got a good price,” said Reiner Haier, a credit analyst with Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg in Stuttgart. “If Vattenfall management has a new target and there are new bidders, then it makes sense to start afresh.”
Dusseldorf-based E.ON, Germany’s largest energy supplier, agreed last month to sell its high-voltage power lines to Dutch grid operator Tennet BV for 1.1 billion euros.
The Swedish utility had been holding exclusive talks with Allianz, Deutsche Bank and Goldman, the person said. Herrmann declined to comment on details of the sale or identify companies that made up the bidding group. Officials at Allianz, Goldman and Deutsche Bank’s RREEF unit declined to comment.
Vattenfall, Germany’s fourth-largest power supplier, owns 9,700 kilometers (6,028 miles) of power lines in eastern Germany, according to the company’s Web site. That’s shorter than E.ON’s network, which runs almost 11,000 kilometers from north to south.
To contact the reporters on this story: Nicholas Comfort in Frankfurt at ncomfort1@bloomberg.netAaron Kirchfeld in Frankfurt at akirchfeld@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: December 8, 2009 13:06 EST
