SINGAPORE - North American electric and gas utility giant Fortis Inc. announced on Wednesday that it had reached an agreement to sell a minority stake in ITC Holdings Corp to Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC.
The agreement comes after Fortis announced in February that it had acquired ITC for approximately US$11.3 billion (S$15.1 billion). For its 19.9 per cent stake in ITC, GIC paid US$1.228 billion in cash.
Fortis said that its sale of the ITC stake to GIC helped it to complete "a significant component of the ITC acquisition financing."
The company added that it financed the ITC acquisition, valued at US$11.3 billion (S$15.1 billion), primarily through this minority investment sale, as well as by issuance of about US$2 billion worth of Fortis debt.
Based in Novi, Michigan, ITC is the largest independent electric transmission company in the United States, and invests in the electric transmission grid. It operates facilities in Michigan, Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, Kansas and Oklahoma.
"Given the high quality transmission platform ITC offers, the strength of the Fortis management team, and GIC's long-term approach to infrastructure investing, we look forward to a successful transaction and partnership," Mr Rhys Evenden, head of infrastructure for North America at GIC, said.
GIC has well over US$100 billion in assets under management.
