STATE Grid Corp of China has agreed to buy Australian power assets from Singapore Power Ltd as part of its global expansion plan.
It will buy a 60 percent stake in SPI (Australia) Assets Pty Ltd, an energy infrastructure company now wholly owned by Singapore Power. State Grid will also buy a 19.9 percent stake in listed company SP AusNet from Singapore Power for A$824 million (US$810 million), the companies announced today.
Deal value for closely-held SPIAA was not closed.
The deals were signed by State Grid and Singapore Power Thursday afternoon in Beijing.
By revenue, State Grid is the world's largest utility company, and it's also a global leader in long-distance power transmission.
The company is seeking to quadruple its overseas assets to US$50 billion by 2020, President Liu Zhenya said in November, because overseas assets yield higher returns than domestic operations.
Last year, State Grid bought a 41.1 percent stake in ElectraNet, which operates South Australia's main electricity transmission grid. The Beijing-based company also set up a presence in Brazil, Portugal and the Philippines.
"The (latest) purchase will further optimize State Grid's asset portfolio overseas," State Grid said in a statement.