Top Banks Miss Out On Li’s $14 Billion Sale of UK Power to Engie

The Engie SA headquarters in the La Defense business district in Paris.

Photographer: Benjamin Girette/Bloomberg

Hong Kong billionaire Victor Li’s CK Group took an unusual approach for the blockbuster sale of the UK’s largest power-distribution network: it didn’t use any investment banks as financial advisers.

CK Group instead assembled an internal team and worked with law firm Linklaters LLP on the £10.5 billion ($14.2 billion) deal announced late Wednesday, according to people familiar with the matter. The transaction involves CK Group selling UK Power Networks to France’s Engie SA.