E.ON To Sell Gas Grid Unit To Macquarie Consortium For EUR3.2 Billion

German utility E.ON AG (EOAN.XE) said Wednesday it has agreed to sell its natural-gas transmission grid to a consortium led by Australian bank Macquarie Group Ltd.'s (MQG.AU) infrastructure funds, in a deal worth EUR3.2 billion.

The consortium includes Macquarie's European Infrastructure Fund 4, Abu Dhabi's Infinity Investments, British Columbia Investment Management Corp. from Canada and the capital investment unit of German reinsurer Munich Re AG (MUV2.XE), said E.ON in a written statement.

The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter 2012, said E.ON, subject to approval by the German Federal Cartel Office and the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology.

The announcement confirms a previous report by Dow Jones Newswires that the Macquarie consortium has beaten stiff competition, including from financial heavyweights such as German insurer Allianz SE (ALV.XE) and French partially state-controlled utility GDF Suez SA (GSZ.FR).

-By Jan Hromadko, Dow Jones Newswires; [phone]; [e-mail]