Ireland has been “told” by the IMF/ECB to sell off state assets to help pay off debts.
The sale of Bord Gais Energy to Centrica has already been agreed and should be done and dusted before the end of June. More here on Bord Gais Energy Sale
ESB announced in October 2012 that it would sell some of its non-strategic power generation assets . ESB sold it’s interest in a UK power plant (Marchwood) in November 2013. It resulted in approximately €153m in dividends being paid to the Exchequer in January of this year.
More recently – on 30 April, ESB sold its interest in a Spanish power plant , which resulted in a dividend of €44m being received by the Exchequer . The power plant was sold for an undisclosed amount to an affiliate of ArcLight Capital Partners, LLC, a US based energy investment firm.
The next sell off by ESB will be their two peat power stations in Ireland – West Offaly Power and Lough Ree Power.