UK's 3i mulls bid for E.ON high voltage net: report

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - UK private equity firm 3i (III.L) is interested in possibly acquiring the E.ON's EONG.DE German high voltage network, 3i Infrastructure head Uwe Danziger told the Boersen Zeitung on Saturday.

"We would like to take a look at it. That is potentially interesting to us -- such a regulated business would fit well with our investment strategy," he said.

E.ON, the world's largest utility, agreed late in February to divest its German electricity grid to end an EU antitrust investigation.

3i Infrastructure so far have not been very high profile though, with just two minor investments in Germany to date, and it can only front capital of about 200 million euros per transaction.

Danziger said thanks to the stable nature of the business as well as the relative ease in forecasting cash flows, he believes an investment in infrastructure assets would generally allow for a higher debt leverage than other private equity deals, particularly if the government remains involved.

He added that by joining up with other interested parties, the financial limits can be stretched easily.

"We like to work in consortiums," Danziger said.

The 3i manager also expressed interest in municipal utilities, "also in the event of a minority interest," he said.

(Reporting by Christiaan Hetzner; editing by James Jukwey)