Scottish and Southern Energy is to spend €488 million (£397 million) buying up power stations in Ireland, making Britain’s second-biggest energy supplier the number three in the Emerald Isle.
SSE is buying the gas and oil-fired plants from indebted Italian utility Enel’s Endesa division.
The deal price is made up of €320 million for the actual purchase plus a further €168 million for working capital and the cost of construction.
The deal was seen as a sign of confidence in the Irish economy, which SSE chief executive Ian Marchant said seemed “on the road to recovery”.
There were few other competitors looking at Ireland, suggesting that SSE would not struggle to retain and hire the best people, he told Bloomberg.
It follows SSE’s first entrance into Southern Ireland when it bought wind farm operator Airtricity for €1.83 billion in 2008.
