Sempra bests Berkshire with $9.45-bn offer for Oncor

US utility owner Sempra Energy agreed to buy control of Texas power distributor Oncor Electric Delivery for $9.45billion, topping a bid by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway just last month.

Sempra's deal for Energy Future Holdings, which owns 80 per cent of Oncor, is valued at about $18.8 billion including debt, the San Diego-based company said in a statement Sunday. Sempra plans to fund the purchase through a combination of its own debt and equity, as well as third-party equity and $3 billion of borrowings by the reorganised company, it said.

Sempra is the latest suitor seeking to take over Oncor since its parent Energy Future declared bankruptcy in 2014. Just six weeks ago, Berkshire struck a deal to buy Oncor for $9 billion. Shortly after, billionaire investor Paul Singer's Elliott Management fired back, saying it was working to pull together a rival bid that may total $9.3 billion, a move that triggered a public battle for the Texas utility.

Elliott voiced its support of the Sempra deal Monday, saying in an emailed statement it provides "substantially greater recoveries" to all Energy Future creditors than Berkshire's offer. The hedge fund is among Energy Future's biggest debt holders. Energy Future has terminated Berkshire's offer, Berkshire said Monday in a statement.

Sempra has been working on its bid for weeks while Elliott and Berkshire fought publicly, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified because the details aren't public. Elliott's move to buy up about $60 million worth of unsecured debt- giving it the ability to block the Berkshire bid -cleared the way for Sempra's offer, the person said. It would be Sempra's largest acquisition since it was formed in 1998, based on data compiled by Bloomberg, expanding its US utility territory beyond California.

Elliott and Berkshire provided a road map for Sempra's offer, the person said. Elliott set a benchmark for Oncor's value with its planned $9.3 billion bid.

Sempra's deal for Energy Future Holdings, which owns 80 per cent of Oncor, is valued at about $18.8 billion including debt