A consortium that includes 3i Group plc and a Goldman Sachs Group Inc. fund have agreed on a €1.54 billion ($1.94 billion) deal to buy two Finnish energy infrastructure businesses from Vattenfall AB. The deal is the latest in a rapid series of disposals by the Swedish utility.

The consortium, consisting of 3i Infrastructure plc, 3i Group plc, GS Infrastructure Partners and Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co, will buy Finland's No. 2 electricity network operator Vattenfall Oy and heating supplier Vattenfall Lämpö Holding Oy.

The sales, announced on Friday, Dec. 16, take the value of Vattenfall's disposals over the past year to almost €4.4 billion over the course of 11 deals. Stockholm-based Vattenfall has been under pressure to cut debt and enhance cash flow since May, when Standard & Poor's warned it could cut the utility's credit rating one notch from 'A-' if its operating income to debt ratio fell below 20% in the long term. The company said in September that ratio stood at 21.3% at the end of its first half, down from 23% at the end of its 2010 financial year.

"The divestment is a significant step in delivering our new strategic direction, focusing on our core business and markets in Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands," Vatenfall CEO Oystein Loseth said in a statement. Vatenfall still owns an electricity sales operation and hydro-power assets in Finland.

The sale of the Finnish assets is Vattenfal's biggest disposal this year, topping the 3.5 billion zloty ($971 million) sale of Polish electricity distributor Gornoslaski ZakBad Energetyczny to Poland's Tauron Polska Energia SA, which was agreed in August and completed last week. Vattenfall noted in November that it remained open to offers on some remaining assets in Poland, Finland, the U.K., Denmark and Belgium.

The deal for the Finnish assets was led by 3i and GS infrastructure Partners, each of which will own a 45% stake in the operations, which will be grouped within acquisition vehicle LNI Acquisition Oy. Ilmarinen Mutual, a Finnish pension fund, will hold the remaining 10%. 3i's stake will be held by a second investment vehicle called 3i Networks Finland LP, which is split between 3i Infrastructure and 3i Group on a 87% to 13% basis.

3i Infrastructure will contribute €236 million in equity to the deal, the fund said in a regulatory filing.

GS Infrastructure Partners havs raised more than $10 billion since Goldman Sachs founded it in 2006. Its website says it targets investments of $100 million to $500 million, though will go bigger as part of a consortium.

The Vattenfall transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2012.

Shares in 3i Group plc traded Friday morning at 171.3 pence, marginally lower than their previous close. 3i Infrastructure shares traded at 118 pence, up just under 1%.