China's State Grid, CKI eye New Zealand asset -paper

HONG KONG, April 7 (Reuters) - China's largest power grid operator, State Grid Corp, and Hong Kong's Cheung Kong Infrastructure (1038.HK) are bidding separately for a power grid network in New Zealand that could fetch as much as US$1 billion, a newspaper reported on Monday.

New Zealand's largest electricity and gas distributor, Vector (VCT.NZ), is selling the network in the country's capital Wellington, the South China Morning Post quoted sources as saying. The network accounts for 23 percent of Vector's power delivery capability.

It would be the second overseas bid by China's State Grid Corp after its US$3.95 billion bid last December to operate the Philippines' power grid for 25 years, the newspaper said.

Tycoon Li Ka-shing indirectly controls Cheung Kong Infrastructure, which already holds a 23.07 percent stake in each of the Australian power firms CitiPower, ETSA Utilities and Powercor Australia, would file a bid for the New Zealand asset later this week, the newspaper said.

Australia's Westpac and its infrastructure fund Hastings Funds Management was another bidder, the paper said.

Vector, which accounts for 35 percent of New Zealand's electricity connections, would use the funds to pay off US$600 million of debt due this year, the newspaper said.

The power network should have strong cash flows but limited growth capacity as New Zealand's government might reduce the amount power firms are allowed to earn, the newspaper said. It gave no further details. (US$1=HK$7.8) (Reporting by Donny Kwok; Editing by Anne Marie Roantree)