Endeavour Energy suitors put their cases to NSW government

Endeavour Energy’s two major suitors — Macquarie Group and Spark Infrastructure — will present their pitches to NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet and Treasury chief Rob Whitfield next week to buy the massive poles and wires business.

Final bids are due to be lodged by Monday for Endeavour, the NSW government’s electricity distributor, which has been indicatively priced between $3.9 billion and $4.9bn.

The presentations to Macquarie Street bureaucrats are expected to start a few days after the Monday deadline.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, who began the state’s privatisation process as treasurer, and Mr Perrottet are expected to waste little time in making a decision. Some corporate advisers say a deal could be signed within a week of the final bids being lodged.

The approval process comes as Mr Whitfield and his team of Treasury bureaucrats put the final touches on the state’s budget, due in the next few weeks.

Macquarie has teamed up with AMP Capital and the British Columbia Investment Management Corporation to put together its bid for a 50.4 per cent stake in Endeavour.

Macquarie, which is self advised, is understood to be keen to pick up the stake after it found itself as the underbidder on a number of recent transactions.

On the other side of the ledger is Spark Infrastructure and Hastings, which have been on a buying spree in the past few years. The pair formed a consortium two years ago to secure the $10.26bn to buy TransGrid, the first of the three power privatisations.

Hastings was the successful bidder on the most recent asset sale, when it paid $2.6bn for LPI, the NSW state lands and titles office.

The Chinese investor interest in Endeavour was subdued after State Grid was knocked back from buying Ausgrid.

New Foreign Investment Review Board boss David Irvine is expected to take a tough approach to upcoming Chinese bids because of the political and security sensitivity around them.