Hong Kong infra fund seen in lead to buy Germany's Ista -sources

By Arno Schuetze and Claire Ruckin

FRANKFURT/LONDON, July 25 (Reuters) - Hong Kong's CK Infrastructure (CKI) is seen in the lead to buy German metering and energy management group Ista for more than 4.5 billion euros ($5.2 billion), sources close to the matter told Reuters.

CKI, part of ports-to-telecoms conglomerate CK Hutchison , which is chaired by tycoon Li Ka-shing, has made a binding offer for private equity-owned Ista on Tuesday, they said.

While it remained unclear whether other final bids came in, two consortia which had been seen as strong contenders steered clear, they added.

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, which already owns a minority stake in Ista and had tied up with Blackstone (NYSE: BX - news) to buy the whole company, refrained from making a final offer, as did a consortium of Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan and Brookfield, the sources said.

A decision on the buyer is expected later this week, two of the sources said.

CVC (Taiwan OTC: 4744.TWO - news) declined to comment, while CKI was not immediately available for comment. The other investors also declined to comment or were not immediately available for comment.

($1 = 0.8584 euros)

($1 = 7.8074 Hong Kong dollars) (Additional reporting by Alexander Hübner; Editing by Maria Sheahan)