Edison receive at least five bids for overseas assets

US power firm Edison International is set to receive at least five bids for its overseas plants including in Indonesia, which it values at about US$7 billion, including debt, bankers familiar with the sale quoted by Bloomberg.

International Power Plc, Malaysia's Genting Bhd. and a consortium including American International Group Inc. and General Electric Co. plan to submit bids by today's deadline, the bankers said, declining to be identified. Mitsubishi Corp., Japan's biggest trading company, withdrew its bid, they said.

Edison Mission Energy is selling plants outside the U.S., including New Zealand's Contact Energy Ltd., to help pay as much as $3.4 billion of debt due this year.

Edison owns plants in Australia, Indonesia, the U.K., Spain and Italy with a total capacity of about 6,600 megawatts.

In Indonesia, Edison has a 45 percent stake at Paiton Energy, which operates the 2x 615 MW coal-fired power plants in East Java. Paiton is in negotiation with state electricity firm PLN to expand the plants by another 800 MW.

Australian energy retailers Origin Energy Ltd. and Australian Gas Light Co. may bid for Edison's 51 percent stake in Contact, New Zealand's largest energy group, the bankers said. The stake has a market value of $1.1 billion.

Edison's biggest plant in Australia is the 1,000-megawatt Loy Yang B plant in Victoria state. Other Australian assets include 60 percent of the 300-megawatt Valley Power company in Victoria, and 70 percent of a 116-megawatt power plant at Kwinana, Western Australia. (*)