Investors Line Up for OMV's Gas Grid Gas Connect Austria
Gas Connect Austria, the pipeline unit of Austrian energy group OMV, has drawn interest from several parties ahead of an auction that could value the asset at up to 750 million euros ($845 million), three people familiar with the deal said.
The sales process, which the sources said was organised by Citi, is expected to start in March and comes after OMV in October said interest for the up to 49 percent stake in the unit was "strong", adding it expected a deal this year.
Parties expected to participate in the auction include a consortium of German insurer Allianz and Borealis Infrastructure, which is part of Canadian pension fund OMERS.
Both groups had previously teamed up in 2013 to acquire Net4Gas, the Czech gas pipeline operator previously owned by German utility RWE.
Gas Connect Austria is also expected to fetch interest from Belgium's Fluxys, Czech-Slovak energy group EPH as well as First State Investments, the asset management arm of Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CMWAY) (CBA), the people said.
Allianz, Citi and Borealis declined to comment. EPH, First State and Fluxys were not immediately available for comment.
(Reporting by Christoph Steitz, Freya Berry and Arno Schuetze)
