31st Jul 2007 07:02
National Grid PLC31 July 2007 31 July 2007 National Grid plc Agreed sale of Basslink electricity interconnector for A$1.175bn (£485m)* National Grid plc ("National Grid") is pleased to announce that it has signed anagreement to sell its Basslink electricity interconnector in Australia toCitySpring Infrastructure Management Pte Ltd for a cash consideration ofA$1.175bn (£485m)** The sale represents a multiple of 16.4 times EBITDA for theyear ended 31 March 2007*** The sale is subject to a number of contractual and governmental consents and isexpected to complete by the end of September 2007. National Grid Chief Executive, Steve Holliday, said: "We are delighted with theoutcome of this sale process. We have secured a premium price for thisfirst-class energy infrastructure asset and generated superior value for ourshareholders. The outcome of this represents further delivery of the NationalGrid strategy. I would like to thank Hydro Tasmania for its support throughoutthis process." Contacts Investors David Rees +44 (0)20 7004 3170 +44 (0)7901 511322 (m)Richard Smith +44 (0)20 7004 3172 +44 (0)7747 006321 (m)James Waite +44 (0)20 7004 3171 +44 (0)7977 440902 (m) Media Clive Hawkins +44 (0)20 7004 3147 +44 (0)7836 357173(m) Brunswick Tim Williamson +44 (0)20 7396 5350 +44 (0)7974 982350(m) Additional information Basslink is the world's longest sub-sea power cable. Commissioned in April 2006,it is a 360 kilometre link between Tasmania and mainland Australia. It is aprofitable, low risk business underpinned by a long-term commercial agreementwith Hydro Tasmania. *Exchange rate A$2.42 to £1.00 **Subject to a working capital adjustment ***Normalised for 11 months contribution and one-off events. Cautionary statement This announcement contains certain statements that are neither reportedfinancial results nor other historical information. These statements areforward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the SecuritiesAct of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934,as amended. These statements include information with respect to National Grid'sfinancial condition, National Grid's results of operations and businesses,strategy, plans and objectives. Words such as "anticipates", "expects","intends", "plans", "believes", "seeks", "estimates", "may", "will", "continue","project" and similar expressions, as well as statements in the future tense,identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are notguarantees of National Grid's future performance and are subject to assumptions,risks and uncertainties that could cause actual future results to differmaterially from those expressed in or implied by the forward-looking statements.Many of these assumptions, risks and uncertainties relate to factors that arebeyond National Grid's ability to control or estimate precisely, such as delaysin obtaining, or adverse conditions contained in, regulatory approvals andcontractual consents, including those required to complete the proposedacquisition of KeySpan when or as planned, unseasonable weather affecting thedemand for electricity and gas, competition and industry restructuring, changesin economic conditions, currency fluctuations, changes in interest and taxrates, changes in energy market prices, changes in historical weather patterns,changes in laws, regulations or regulatory policies, developments in legal orpublic policy doctrines, the impact of changes to accounting standards andtechnological developments. Other factors that could cause actual results todiffer materially from those described in this announcement include the abilityto integrate the businesses relating to announced acquisitions with our existingbusiness and realise the expected synergies from such integration, theavailability of new acquisition opportunities and the timing and success offuture acquisition opportunities, the impact of the sales of businesses byNational Grid, the failure for any reason to achieve reductions in costs or toachieve operational efficiencies, the failure to retain key management, thebehaviour of UK electricity market participants on system balancing, the timingof amendments in prices to shippers in the UK gas market, the performance ofNational Grid's pension schemes and the regulatory treatment of pension costs,and any adverse consequences arising from outages on or otherwise affectingenergy networks, including gas pipelines, owned or operated by National Grid.For a more detailed description of some of these assumptions, risks anduncertainties, together with any other risk factors, please see National Grid'sfilings with and submissions to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (the"SEC") (and in particular the "Risk Factors" and "Operating and FinancialReview" sections in its most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F and the "RiskFactors" section in its Registration Statement on Form F-3 filed with the SEC on28 June 2006). Except as may be required by law or regulation, National Gridundertakes no obligation to update any of its forward-looking statements. Theeffects of these factors are difficult to predict. New factors emerge from timeto time and National Grid cannot assess the potential impact of any such factoron its activities or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors,may cause results to differ materially from those contained in anyforward-looking statement. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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