ESB International Investments, the international arm of the Electricity Supply Board, has been included on a shortlist of six for the sale of part of the Polish electricity network.
The network that has been put up for sale by the Polish government is twice the size of the ESB's existing network in Ireland.
The ESB will face strong competition for the Northern Companies, a network of energy distributors in northern and central Poland, with major utilities from Spain, Germany, France and Belgium also included on the shortlist.
The Northern Companies consists of eight state-owned electricity distribution companies which account for 16 per cent of the Polish electricity market serving 2.5 million consumers and annual revenues of #970 million (£764 million).
Due diligence is being carried out and the Polish government will announce its preferred bidder in August.
ESB International's managing director, Mr Donal Curtin, said: "Investing in the Northern Group complements ESB's strategy of growth through its international business. We are attracted to it by its market size, the scale of the customer base and associated customer density, which is similar to Ireland."
