Centrica sells power plants in US for £420m
ENERGY firm Centrica hit the top of the FTSE 100 yesterday morning, after it agreed to sell its Texas gas-fired power stations to asset manager Blackstone for $685m (£420m) and return the proceeds to shareholders via a share buyback next year.
“Residential retail supply is key to our North American business, and with sufficient generation capacity in Texas, we can support our downstream business through contractual arrangements, rather than asset ownership,” said Badar Khan, president and chief executive of Direct Energy, Centrica’s North American subsidiary.
Shares in the firm, which owns big six supplier British Gas, pared gains to close up 1.7 per cent.