(Ecns.cn)--Portugal's government agreed on Thursday (local time) to sell a 25 percent stake in the country's power-grid operator REN-Redes Energeticas Nacionais (RENE) SA to State Grid International of China, according to a Bloomberg report on Friday.
The other bidder Oman Oil will acquire 15 percent of the grid operator.
The 40 percent stake in REN will cost a total amount of 592 million euros (US$779 million) by State Grid and Oman Oil, and the former will pay 387.2 million euros, according to Maria Luis Albuquerque, Secretary of Portugal's State for Treasury and Finance.
The agreement will help Portugal meet the terms of a bailout accord. In April 2011, the country became the third euro-area country after Greece and Ireland to request a bailout from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.
State Grid's proposal also includes 1 billion euros in funds from China Development Bank Corp. to help REN meet refinancing needs until 2014 and fulfill its investment plan, Albuquerque said.
The Portuguese company plans to invest 3.2 billion euros through 2016 in new lines and substations, as well as natural gas storage facilities and pipelines. State Grid is also proposing a partnership with REN in Angola and Mozambique.
Chinese companies have been involved in other deals in Portugal. China Three Gorges Corp. agreed in December to pay 2.69 billion euros for 21 percent of EDP, and refiner China Petrochemical Corp. said in November it would buy 30 percent of the Brazilian unit of Galp Energia SGPS SA, Portugal's biggest oil company.
Bloomberg News
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