US-based electricity and gas utility Texas Utilities Co has launched a $201 million takeover bid for Allgas Energy Ltd as part of a planned buying spree that could lead to a multibillion-dollar float of its Australian power assets.

Texas Utilities, through its subsidiary, TU Australia, paid $2.08 billion for Eastern Energy Ltd, one of five privatised Victorian distributors, in late 1995 and is interested in buying power assets in NSW.