It is understood that AGL and Macquarie intend to float Macquarie Essential Infrastructure Group to house the distribution networks. AGL would then keep the 259,000 Melbourne CBD customers of Citipower, of which 82% are commercial and the remainder households.
Other potential bidders for CitiPower includes the ANZ Bank/Energex syndicate. Like the AGL/Macquarie plan, analysts said ANZ intends to establish a regulated infrastructure trust and Energex would take CitiPower retail customers to diversify its geographic spread and further its aim to be a national energy retailer.
While the ANZ and Macquarie syndicates are seen as the front-runners, they are expected to face stiff competition from TXU Australia, which is bidding for CitiPower on its own and a consortium composed of Origin Energy and Cheung Kong Infrastructure of Hong Kong.
A fourth consortium comprising of United Energy together with AMP, could also make a bid for CitiPower, which is going under the hammer after its Ohio-based parent, American Electric, announced in February it intends to focus on the US wholesale market after a $US10 billion acquisition of Central & South West Corp.
