Shares in United States utility company AES soared on a report that it will be acquired by Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) for US$38 billion, including debt (A$57.5 billion).
Talks were in the final stages and could conclude in the coming days, according to the Financial Times (FT) newspaper.
“However, sources cautioned that the negotiations could still fall through,” the FT wrote in this story.
AES (NYSE: AES) shares closed $2.21 (16.79%) higher at $15.37, capitalising the company at $10.94 billion, and helping offset some of the losses from a slump of more than 30% over the last year.
GIP had declined to comment to the FT, and AES has not responded to requests for comment.
AES’ focus on renewable energy made it a target for a sell-off generated by investor concern about the effect of President Donald Trump's rollback of green energy tax incentives.
Bloomberg previously reported in July that AES was exploring a sale after receiving takeover interest from GIP and Brookfield.
Investor interest in utility companies is increasing due to surging demand for electricity driven by artificial intelligence and data centres, which use a lot of power.
GIP, which was acquired by BlackRock in 2024 for $12.5 billion, manages nearly $200 billion in assets globally and last year agreed to buy public utility Allete for $6.2 billion deal.
