In an announcement, the State Grid Corp of China is purchasing shareholdings in an Australian electricity network company. The price of the stake amounts to above US$800 million.

The company is SP AusNet and it operates within the Victoria state electricity and gas network. It announced last Friday that the stake being purchased by State Grid was the 19.9% previously owned by Singapore Power Ltd.

Currently, State Grid operates the biggest utility company in the world with annual revenues reaching US$300 billion. Not only soes it have a presence in Australia, it also has business investments in Brazil, Portugal and the Philippines.

With the divestment, Singapore Power still remains to be the biggest shareholder in SP AusNet with a total shareholding of 31.1%. 

The sale is still subject to regulatory approvals in China and Australia as well as required clearance from top finance officials of the state and federal Australian government.