National Grid sells 61% stake in gas business, dealmaking at Glencore and profits down at SportsDirect. FT Opening Quote, with commentary by City Editor Jonathan Guthrie, is your early Square Mile briefing. You can sign up for the full newsletter here.
National Grid has agreed to sell 61 per cent of its UK gas distribution business for £3.6bn in cash. The purchaser is a consortium led by Maquarie and including Allianz, Hermes and sovereign wealth funds of China and Qatar.
National Grid will also get £1.8bn from a debt financing. The power infrastructure group, for whom the sale represents a tidying-up exercise, albeit on a large scale, will return £4bn to shareholders. The transaction gives the gas pipes an enterprise value of £13.8bn.