Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing is close to clinching a 3.7 billion pound ($5.97 billion) bid for E.ON AG's UK power networks, Reuters reported Sunday citing the Sunday Times.
Li's investment arm, Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings Ltd, is understood to have outbid US power producer PPL Corp, the last remaining rival in the auction, the report said.
Germany's E.ON had put its UK networks up for sale in December as part of a promise to investors that it would divest assets worth 15 billion euros ($20.6 billion) through to 2013, in order to guarantee minimum dividends while it builds up new markets.
