Portuguese state stake-holding company Participações Públicas (Parpública) has sold the 4.144 percent stake the Portuguese state still owned in power group EDP – Energias de Portugal to institutional investors, according to a statement issued Thursday in Lisbon.

The sale was carried out at a price of 2.35 euros per share, which is lower than the current share price of 2.422 euros Parpública said adding that the sale had raised 356.1 million euros.

The shares – a total of 151.517 million – were bought by institutional investors, but Parpública did not name any of the buyers.

The China Three Gorges group, which previously acquired 21.35 percent of the EDP group, making it the Portuguese company’s biggest single shareholder, put forward a proposal to purchase this final lot of shares, but Parpública declined the offer, allegedly due to the price offered.

Caixa BI and Morgan Stanley acted as financial advisors for the transaction that led to the State’s complete withdrawal from the EDP group, which was one of the conditions outlined in the memorandum of understanding with the team that is supervising Portugal’s financial bailout. (macauhub)