Hedge fund Knight Vinke calls for more E.ON divestments

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Hedge fund Knight Vinke has called for more asset sales at Germany's largest utility E.ON in a letter to the fund's own investors.

E.ON, like local rivals RWE and EnBW, has been hammered by the rise of renewable energy, plunging wholesale electricity prices and Germany's plans to abandon nuclear power by 2022.

It has responded by seeking to spin off its gas and coal-fired plants as well as energy trading activities into Uniper, to focus on growing renewables, networks and services instead.

In a letter to his investors, Knight Vinke founder and chief executive Eric Knight said E.ON should also spin off its regional electricity and natural gas grids.

"We have actively engaged with E.ON's board and management to persuade it that it should separate its regulated network business ... from its power generation and supply businesses, which carry commodity risk," Knight wrote in the letter.

"Our thesis in the utility sector is built on the idea that regulated infrastructure assets (such as gas pipelines or electricity grids) have no business being part of energy conglomerates such as E.ON (or ENI in which we had an investment until 2013)."

E.ON declined to comment.

Knight Vinke holds less then 3 percent of E.ON.

(Reporting by Harro ten Wolde and Tom Kaeckenhoff; Editing by Keith Weir)

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