UPDATE 1-Australia's Spark Infra agrees to $3.7 bln buyout by KKR-led group, shares jump
(Adds shares, background)
Aug 23 (Reuters) - Spark Infrastructure Group on Monday agreed to a A$5.2 billion ($3.71 billion) takeover by a consortium that includes private-equity giant KKR & Co Inc and two Canadian pension funds, sending its shares to their highest in more than four years.
The deal is the latest in a flurry of merger and acquisitions activity in Australia as record-low interest rates have encouraged institutional investors with ample capital to chase higher yields.
The consortium had made a third offer of A$2.95 per share for the electricity infrastructure investor late July, and earlier this month roped in Public Sector Pension Investment Board to join KKR and the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board (OTPP).
Spark, which has a 49% stake in an electricity distribution network in Southern Australia, saw its share price surge more than 30% this year, boosted by a rebound in infrastructure spending and industrial activity.
The stock jumped as much as 2.5% on Monday to hit A$2.84, its highest since June 2017.
Under the deal, Spark said it can pay a special distribution of around 12 Australian cents per share, and added that the deal was still subject to foreign investment approval and shareholder approval.
($1 = 1.4017 Australian dollars) (Reporting by Sameer Manekar, Harish Sridharan and Nikhil Kurian Nainan in Bengaluru; Editing by Sam Holmes and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
