The 2000 megawatt power station has been on the market for a month after Horizon said it would join its American partners in pushing for the sale of the brown coal-fired generator, which was bought by the consortium for a sum $4.89 billion – of which $1.3 billion was equity.

Under the proposed float, fund managers said Loy Yang would raise $2 billion, which would be used to retire around $1.5 billion in debt, with the balance being taken by the vendors.