E.ON AG's (EOAN.XE) Chief Executive Wulf Bernotat Thursday said he expects plenty of interest in the company's German transmission power grid that's for sale despite a deterioration of the market environment due to the financial crisis.
On the sidelines of an energy conference in Berlin, Bernotat said there should be enough interest in the grid, pointing to the ongoing sales process of similar assets of competitor Vattenfall Europe.
"According to what I hear there's been quite some interest in Vattenfall's (grid)...," Bernotat said, adding there's no indication the financial crisis would influence the sale.
His comments came a day after the European Commission dropped its electricity antitrust case against E.ON, saying the company's promise to sell capacity and part of its grid would address competitive bottlenecks in the market.
In February, E.ON proposed the sale of its German high-voltage power grid to an independent operator and committed to selling around 4.8 gigawatts of German power-generation capacity if the commission dropped its antitrust investigation. In the past, E.ON has said numerous potential bidders have stated an interest in the assets.
Analysts have said E.ON's transmission grid could bring around EUR1.5 billion to EUR2 billion.
Vattenfall has already initiated the sale of its grid and people familiar with the matter have told Dow Jones Newswires that binding bids for the assets are due Feb. 2.