Two bidding groups line up final bids for Fortum's Swedish grid - sources

By Anjuli Davies and Sven Nordenstam

LONDON/STOCKHOLM, March 4 (Reuters) - Two bidding groups are lining up final offers for the Swedish power grid of Finnish utility Fortum that could be worth around 6 billion euros ($6.7 billion), ahead of a March 11 deadline, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Borealis, the infrastructure investment arm of Canadian pension fund OMERS, is teaming up with Swedish pension funds for its bid.

Meanwhile the infrastructure arm of Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS-PB - news) is partnering with private equity firm 3i's infrastructure arm and sovereign wealth funds to bid for the asset, with the winner expected to be chosen shortly after.

Fortum may be keen to have something to announce at its annual shareholders' meeting on March 31, one of the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the matter is private.

Fortum declined to comment. All of the prospective bidders either declined to comment or could not immediately be reached for comment.

The auction attracted a range of infrastructure investors keen to snap up regulated energy assets for their predictable cash flows, pushing the price up.

Those who expressed interest earlier in the process including Macquarie and CKI, an investment entity controlled by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-Shing, are no longer in the race, the sources added.

Fortum is selling its Swedish power grid as part of a trend for European energy firms to split off their distribution networks to cut debt and focus on power generation and renewable energy.

It has already sold its distribution business in Finland to a group of investors led by First State Investments and Borealis Infrastructure for 2.55 billion euros in December 2013.

It also divested its smaller Norwegian electricity distribution business, as well as a stake in gas utility Gasum.

At the same time, Fortum has said it is ready to take significant development and growth steps and is looking beyond the Nordics and Russia.

Fortum is interested in a bidding for a 66 percent stake in Slovak power producer Slovenske Elektrarne, being offered for sale by Italy's Enel, a source with knowledge of the matter said in February [ID: nL5N0VZ2TS] ($1 = 0.8980 euros) (Additional reporting by Freya Berry and Jussi Rosendahl; Editing by David Holmes)