This from last week AFR - excerpt hope it's ok, I'm a paid up...

This from last week AFR - excerpt hope it's ok, I'm a paid up subscriber.

EDITED BY SARAH THOMPSON, ANTHONY MACDONALD AND GRETCHEN FIREMAN
The phones are running hot at infrastructure funds and utilities investors, who are being asked to take another look at Pacific Equity Partners’ $670 million stake in the listed Energy Developments.

A handful of investment banks have been feverishly pitching the stake in the wake of Energy Developments’ full year results released last week, with a view that the strong 2013 financial year numbers may prompt PEP to offload its 83 per cent stake.

The pitching is also thought to have reached PEP, even though it has not determined to sell the stake, let alone mandated a bank to run a process.

The unusual structure – where PEP owns a majority holding but the stock remains listed – means that banks and potential buyers get a good look at the company’s financials every six months. But pitching has increased as the remote power and renewable energy business shows signs of the PEP-run turnaround strategy. It posted $177 million EBITDA for the 12 months to June 30, up 31 per cent from the prior year, while the return on equity jumped from 10.7 per cent to 18.9 per cent.

It’s hard to see a logical buyer for Energy Developments, with infrastructure fund and offshore utilities targeted so far. Another option may be to re-IPO the business and sell to listed equities investors.

The pitching also comes as PEP is under some pressure to realise investments ahead of a raising for its fifth buyout fund. The private equity manager is holding 10 assets across its third and fourth funds and has been unable to seal a sale in almost two years.