PARIS Reuters - French utility Engie has selected five of seven bidders for its Equans service unit and hopes to elicit binding offers in the coming weeks, two sources familiar with the matter said.
The gas and power group has simplified its sprawling structure, which includes a Belgian nuclear arm that is due to be eliminated, and is raising funds with selling off non-core assets to expand into renewable energy.
The service business, which consists of areas like building maintenance, was hoping to raise bids between 5 and 6 billion euros, sources previously said. The offers hit the high end of that range, on Wednesday one of sources said.
U.S. investment firm Apollo Global Management and a duo of private equity firms CVC and PAI have been emptied from the list of bidders, the sources added
Industrial groups Bouygues, Eiffage and Spie have made it through to the next round as has Bain and Carlyle. Binding bids are expected at the end of October, sources said.
The bidders and Engie declined to comment.
Engie, owned almost 24% by the presidential state, aims to wrap up the process at the end of the year and ahead of the French presidential election in 2022. It will look at the various job guarantees offered by the bidders as well as the prices when it reviews the offers. Equans employs 74,000 people.