SSE confirms interest in EDF UK assets

LONDON (Reuters) - Utility Scottish & Southern (SSE.L) is in talks with possible partners, including Canada's Borealis, regarding a bid for French peer EDF's (EDF.PA) electricity distribution assets in the UK.

"Given the size of the assets, we are almost certainly going to do that transaction in partnership with someone we already have a business relationship with," SSE Chief Executive Ian Marchant told reporters on a conference call after SSE released first-half results.

He said he would be surprised if SSE didn't team up with Borealis for a bid, but that no formal consortium had yet been agreed.

EDF has sent out a "teaser" to potential bidders previewing the sale of its three distributor network operators, whose value stands close to 4 billion pounds.

Marchant said the deal could be one of the biggest cash M&A deals in the UK next year and that SSE would likely raise equity via placing for any transaction. He estimated the possible amount to be raised at about 750 million pounds.

"We're only going to do the deal if it makes sense, so I think shareholders will back and support that, given our investment record."

(Reporting by Victoria Bryan, editing by Will Waterman)