UPDATE: TRUenergy Names Banks For A$3 Billion IPO - Sources

--TRUEnergy appoints Deutsche Bank, UBS and Bank of America Merrill Lynch for IPO

--The A$3 billion IPO is expected in November, subject to market conditions

--The listing would be the largest in Australia since late 2010

(Adds background from third paragraph.)

 
   By Caroline Henshaw 
 

SYDNEY--CLP Holdings Ltd.'s (0002.HK) TRUenergy has appointed Deutsche Bank AG (DB), UBS AG (UBS) and Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAC) as the leading banks for its upcoming 3 billion Australian dollar (US$2.98 billion) initial public offering, or IPO, people familiar with the matter said on Thursday.

TRUenergy's long-awaited IPO is expected to take place in November, subject to market conditions, the people said.

At the touted size, it would be the biggest listing in Australia since QR National Ltd.'s (QRN.AU) A$4.6 billion offer in late 2010 and would end a two-year drought of large local public offerings. Local IPOs raised $1.1 billion last year, compared to a total of $7.4 billion in 2010 and down from $10.2 billion in 2005, according to data from Dealogic. So far this year, only $227 million has been raised.

Andrew Brandler, Chief Executive of CLP Holdings Ltd. (0002.HK), said last month that TRUEnergy's Hong Kong-based owner intends to maintain a majority stake in its Australian subsidiary, even after listing, but that increasing the Australian component of its ownership could help the company develop in the future. The IPO could also be used to repatriate some of the substantial capital invested in TRUenergy back to Hong Kong, he said.

Analysts have said that part of the proceeds from selling a stake in TruEnergy could go towards CLP's moves to jointly buy with a Chinese state-owned firm, the stake in a power generating joint venture in Hong Kong.

TRUenergy provides energy to more than 2.7 million Australian households and owns and operates a host of energy generation and storage facilities.

In March 2011, TRUenergy completed its A$2.18 billion acquisition of power assets from Australia's New South Wales state. In October, the company outlined its intentions to build two gas-fired power stations in Australia's Queensland state valued at a combined A$3.6 billion

TRUenergy spokesman Carl Kitchen declined to comment on the selection of banks. Spokeswomen for all of the banks also declined to comment on the deal.

UBS, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), Credit Suisse Group AG (CS), Deutsche Bank, Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA.AU) and the RBS-CIMB unit of Malaysia's CIMB Group Holdings Bhd. (1023.KU) are among the banks who pitched, people familiar with the matter previously said.

Write to Caroline Henshaw at [e-mail] (Jeffrey Ng and Yvonne Lee in Hong Kong and Gillian Tan in Sydney contributed to this article.)