Thai, Chinese investors to bid for two Macquarie power stations

Bidding ends later this month.

Macquarie Generation’s Liddell and Bayswater coal-fired power stations at the Hunter Valley in New South Wales, Australia have a book value of $2 billion. Macquarie expects the final sale to be completed by the end of March 2014.

Australian media reported that among the companies expected to bid are China's Shenhua Group and Thailand's Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding PCL.

State-owned Shenhua is the largest coal-producing company in the world. Ratchaburi is a leading investment company in the power generation business in Thailand.

Macquarie will assess the indicative bids w at the end of this month, after which a final list of bidders will be decided.

The NSW government expects to get more than the book value for the two assets in its auction. The Australian federal government has promised to repeal the carbon tax, potentially boosting the value of both coal-fired power stations.

Macquarie Generation is an electricity generation company owned by the Government of New South Wales. It has a portfolio of generating sites that mostly use thermal coal power.