(Adds detail, background.)
By Klaus Hinkel
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
FRANKFURT -(Dow Jones)- German utilities Vattenfall Europe AG and E.ON AG (EOAN.XE) are planning to launch a joint sale process for the stakes they own in Berlin-based gas supplier Gasag Berliner Gaswerke AG, two people familiar with the matter told Dow Jones newsletter Energy Daily Tuesday.
Vattenfall and E.ON are preparing the combined sale of the stakes in Gasag and plan to open a joint data room for potential suitors for due diligence purposes, the people said.
The sale process will most likely start before the end of the year, perhaps in early December, they added.
Vattenfall and E.ON will offer their 31.6% and 36.9% holdings in Gasag as one package, but suitors may also bid for the stakes separately, the people said.
E.ON is advised by Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS) and Vattenfall has mandated Sal. Oppenheim to run the sale.
E.ON declined to comment, while Vattenfall Europe--the wholly-owned unit of Sweden's state controlled Vattenfall AB--wasn't immediately available to comment.
The combined sale aims at providing a more detailed due diligence process and attract a higher price, because the buyer could end up with a majority stake in Gasag.
Vattenfall AB's Chief Executive Lars Josefsson last week said his company would coordinate the sale of its Gasag stake with the other shareholders and the city of Berlin, adding it is therefore unlikely the sale would be completed before the end of 2009.
In July, Vattenfall confirmed it has approached potential bidders over the Gasag sale. Press reports have speculated that France's GDF Suez SA (GSZ.FR), which owns around 31.6% in Gasag, could be among the interested parties.
Vattenfall is selling its Gasag shares as part of a EUR1.5 billion divestment program, including its minority stakes in Germany, which it doesn't consider as part of its core business anymore.
E.ON is selling its Gasag stake as part of the divestment of its Thuega unit to a consortium of municipal utilities. The sale, which was announced in August, excluded stakes in Gasag and other municipal utilities, but E.ON said it would sell those shareholdings once the Thuega transaction has closed.
Company Web sites: www.vattenfall.de; www.eon.com
-By Klaus Hinkel, Dow Jones Newswires; +49 69 29 725 503; klaus.hinkel@dowjones.com
(Jan Hromadko in Frankfurt contributed to this article.)