Sale of waste energy unit may fetch E.ON $2.4 billion: report

E.ON, Europe's largest privately-owned provider of energy services, will sell its waste energy subsidiary E.ON Energy from Waste AG, in a deal that could fetch the German utility company up to €1.8 billion ($2.4 billion), Reuters yesterday reported, citing banking sources.

Düsseldorf-based E.ON has hired Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland to manage the sale process, the news agency said.

The sale may attract private equity firms, the report added.

Founded in 1873 and formerly known as BKB AG, E.ON Energy from Waste is one of the power generating subsidiaries of E.ON and operates 18 energy from waste (EfW) plants in Germany, the Netherlands and Luxembourg with an annual capacity of around 4 million tonnes.

The German company, based in Helmstedt, converts almost 5 million tonnes a year of municipal, commercial and industrial waste into 2,900 gigawatt hours of heat and 2,800 gigawatt hours of electricity for large energy users, district heat facilities and local authorities.

The company generated sales of €544 million in 2011.

In December 2012, E.ON Energy from Waste teamed up with Tata Chemicals Europe to bid for a long term contract with West London Waste Authority to treat up to 300,000 tonnes of residual waste per year generated by a city's 1.4 million people.

Tata Chemicals Europe in partnership with E.ON Energy from Waste UK, has submitted a planning application to build an EfW plant at Tata's chemical manufacturing site in Lostock, Northwich.