Australia’s Challenger Infrastructure Fund announced today that it has received £168 million (€188 million; €274 million) in proceeds from the sale of UK water company Southern Water.
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Challenger: cuts |
The Australian listed fund announced the sale of its remaining 15.6 percent stake in Southern Water last November. The £168 million price tag represents a premium of 1.26x the utility’s regulated capital value and is equivalent to its net asset value at the end of June 2009. Challenger was part of the original consortium that acquired the entirety of Southern Water in October 2007. At this time, the fund paid £300 million for a 27 percent equity stake in the utility, which it has been progressively selling off.
Following the transaction, Challenger now owns controlling stakes in two assets – an 80.4 percent interest in independent gas transporter Inexus and a 66.2 percent stake in storage terminal operator LBC Terminals.