Meridian completes sale

Meridian Energy yesterday completed the sale of its Australian subsidiary Southern Hydro, realising a $600 million profit along the way.

Meridian announced the sale of Southern Hydro to Australian energy company Australian Gas Light on October 31, for A$1.42 billion ($1.5 billion).

The assets sold included 62 megawatts of hydro assets in New South Wales that Meridian bought in April 2001 for A$85 million; the 540MW of original Southern Hydro assets bought in May 2003 for A$600 million; the 91MW Wattle Point wind farm it commissioned in May this year; and several wind farm and hydro developments in the planning stages.