Steag Bids May Include Thuega, Allianz, Macquarie Funds-Sources

Thuega AG and infrastructure funds run by Allianz SE (ALV.XE) and Macquarie Group Ltd.(MQG.AU) are separately eyeing a potential deal to acquire parts of Evonik Industries AG's Steag unit, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Czech energy company CEZ Group and a consortium of western German municipal utilities were already indicated as potential bidders. Steag is one of the largest energy producers in Germany and is part of Evonik's larger business portfolio, which consists of energy, speciality chemicals and real-estate operations.

Management presentations were completed last week and further due diligence is set to begin shortly, the people said.

Evonik said earlier this year that it wanted to maintain a majority stake in Steag but continues to gauge interest from potential bidders who might consider taking more than a minority share in the Essen-based company, sources said.

An initial sales prospectus for Steag suggested that Evonik was open to offers for a majority in its energy business or bids for individual assets, a person familiar with the matter previously told Dow Jones Newswires.

A spokeswoman for Evonik said the company had received a number of bids and still wanted to maintain a majority stake in Steag, but wouldn't comment on potential buyers.

The open approach to selling Steag assets underlines the difficulty Evonik could face in selling its less attractive assets, such as its German coal power plant operations, people said.

In an initial bidding round in May, potential buyers showed most interest in Steag's Turkey-based power plant and renewable energy operations, but received little interest for the German coal power business. Steag's total value is seen at more than EUR5 billion, according to one person familiar with the matter.

U.K. private equity company CVC Capital Partners Ltd. owns around 25% of Evonik. The remainder is owned by Germany's RAG Foundation, the state-controlled coal mining foundation. The company, which is active in the chemicals, energy and real-estate industries, was spun off from RAG and renamed Evonik in 2007.

Spokesmen for Thuega and JP Morgan, which is advising Evonik, declined to comment, as did spokeswomen for CVC and Allianz. A spokesman for RAG and a spokeswoman for Macquarie weren't immediately available for comment

-By William Launder, Dow Jones Newswires; [phone]; [e-mail]

(Martin Rapp in Duesseldorf and Jan Hromadko in Frankfurt contributed reporting.)