Elliott eyeing up SSE break up - report

Activist hedge fund Elliott Investment Management is agitating to break up energy firm SSE, it was reported on Tuesday.

The US firm, founded by its billionaire president Paul Singer, wants to separate SSE’s renewable portfolio from its regulated electricity business, Bloomberg reported. According to unnamed sources, who Bloomberg said had knowledge of the matter, Elliott has been meeting with SSE representatives and major shareholders.

Neither Elliott nor SSE have commented on the report.

Blue chip SSE runs a regulated power grid business and owns a number of gas-fired power plants. It supplies electricity to around 3.8m homes in the north of Scotland and across central southern England through its SSEN Distribution arm.

It also has a growing renewables business, however, with a number of wind and hydroelectric assets in the UK and Ireland. SSE has stated that it aims to treble its renewable power output from 2019 levels to 30TWh by 2030.

Elliot Management, which has holdings worth around $40bn, has a long history of forcing through change in its portfolio companies.

As at 1300 BST, shares in SSE were largely flat at 1,639p.