SSEZY SSE PLC (PK)

   By Oliver Griffin 
 

SSE PLC (SSE.LN) said Friday that it has entered an agreement with Ovo Energy Ltd. to sell its energy services business for an enterprise value of 500 million pounds ($616.6 million).

The energy company said the deal with Ovo Energy, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ovo Group Ltd., would comprise GBP400 million in cash and GBP100 million in loan notes.

While GBP59 million will be deducted from the cash sum to account for certain debts, SSE said proceeds from the sale will be used to reduce its net debt.

SSE confirmed in August that it was in talks with Ovo Group concerning the sale of SSE Energy Services. The company had previously tried to merge SSE Energy Services and Npower, the U.K. retail division of Innogy SE (IGY.XE), but the transaction was terminated in December after SSE and Innogy failed to reach a deal.

The company said all SSE Energy Services employees, who number around 8,000, will transfer to Ovo.

The deal is expected to complete in either late 2019 or early 2020, subject to necessary regulatory approvals, SSE said.

Write to Oliver Griffin at oliver.griffin@dowjones.com; @OliGGriffin

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 13, 2019 02:32 ET (06:32 GMT)

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