UK water group United Utilities has brought in investment bank JP Morgan to manage the auction of one of its divisions as part of a series of asset disposals.
The division for sale provides outsourced services for other utilities, including waste treatment, metering and connections services. It may be sold as a whole or broken up.
It has been reported that numerous buyout firms are considering putting in up to £500m in a bid offer. Advent International, 3i, and KKR have been named as potential bidders.
The FTSE 100 company provides water and sewerage services to seven million customers in the North West of England.
United Utilities aims to reduce its operations in an effort to cut costs, and has generated £130m from sales over the past month. Water regulator Ofwat had recently told it to reduce its customer's bills.
UK households will see their average water bills drop £3 over five years.
The group had planned to increase its prices to fund £4bn of investment fixing leaks, installing water meters, improving water quality and protecting the environment.
