Hong Kong investors take over water firm

Shareholders in northumbrian, which supplies 2.6 million people in the north east and 1.8 million through Essex & Suffolk Water,

will receive 465p per share from a consortium of companies headed by Cheung Kong Infrastructure (CKI), the firm controlled by Asian

billionaire Li Ka-shing.

CKI already has extensive utility assets in the UK including electricity distributor UK Power Networks, gas distributor Northern Gas Networks and stakes in Southern Water and generator Seabank Power.

The Hong Kong company has agreed to sell Cambridge Water to HSBC as part of the deal to avoid competition issues.

Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, which owns nearly 27 per cent of Northumbrian, has agreed to accept the takeover offer.

CKI is the largest listed infrastructure company in Hong Kong, while consortium partner CKH is one of the largest residential and

commercial property developers and owns a near 50 per cent stake in conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa.

The UK’s infrastructure sector has proved irresistible to overseas buyers in recent years with more than a third of the country’s assets

now under foreign ownership.

In the past 10 years, Ferrovial of Spain has bought Heathrow owner BAA, Germany’s RWE bought power supplier Npower and Australian bank Macquarie bought Thames Water.