E.ON seeks to raise another $2.6B through disposals

German utility E.ON SE is extending a recently completed asset sale to raise another €2 billion ($2.58 billion) to further reduce its €35.6 billion in liabilities and fund expansion abroad.

E.ON, of Dusseldorf, hopes to offload its joint 33% stake in uranium enrichment company Urenco Ltd. by the end of next year as well as a 73.3% stake in E.ON Mitte and a 62.9% stake E.ON Westfalen Weser, both regional utilities.

"We're tapping growth markets like Turkey, Russia and Brazil," CEO Johannes Teyssen said during the company's Wednesday, March 13, earnings press conference.

The utility - Germany's largest - in January completed a €15 billion divestment program to help it refocus before Germany outlaws nuclear power generation in 2022. The sales included a Slovak gas joint venture with GdF Suez SA, a pan-European gas grid and a U.K. electricity network.

E.ON CFO Marcus Schenk said the company may consider increasing its 12% stake in Brazil's MPX Energia SA to expand there. It bought into its Brazilian peer last year as part of a joint venture in the rapidly expanding economy.

MPX is controlled by Brazilian industrial financier Eike Batista, who the Wall Street Journal said is interested in trimming his investment because of weak returns by local energy companies.

The two other auctions will likely result in the regional utilities sold to their public minority shareholders - predominantly the municipalities they serve. Meanwhile the Urenco sale has attracted interest from Canada's Cameco Corp., which Sky News says is being advised by Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Former Urenco executive Patrick Upson has said he's part of a consortium interested in the company, pitting it against French nuclear power company Areva - with Nomura Holdings Inc. as an adviser - and financial investors.

E.ON holds its Urenco stake with German peer RWE. The remaining 66% of the secretive Stoke Poges, England-based Urenco is held equally by the U.K. and the Netherlands. The U.K. has said it would also be willing to sell and the Netherlands said it's watching the auction and appointed AB Amro Bank NV as an adviser.