Azernews.Az

By Bloomberg

EON SE and partner Haci Omer Sabanci Holding AS hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to explore the sale of power assets in Turkey, people with knowledge of the matter said.

The companies are seeking about $1 billion from the sale, which may include direct stakes in production and distribution assets or in the company operating them, the people said, asking not to be identified as the plans are private.

EON on Nov. 30 announced plans to break itself up, spinning off fossil-fuel power plants into a separate company to focus on renewable energy. The reorganization is the most radical response yet to Germany’s switch to wind and solar power, a shift that has led nuclear reactors to close and undermined power prices, eroding traditional utilities’ profits.

Sabanci rose as much as 2.8 percent to 9.45 liras, and was trading at 9.45 liras as of 10:43 a.m. in Istanbul.

Enerjisa Enerji AS is equally owned by the Dusseldorf, Germany-based utility and Sabanci. It produces 2,800 megawatts of power in Turkey, with a goal of boosting that to 5,000 megawatts by 2020. It also operates three power grids covering a population of about 16 million, according to its website.

“We continuously work on options to improve the financial and operational performance of the business,” Sabanci Holding CFO Baris Oran says in e-mailed response to questions. Joseph Stein, a spokesman for Goldman Sachs in London, declined to comment, as did EON spokeswoman Sabine Meixner.