Germany's Steag renames large part of business ahead of sale

BERLIN (Reuters) - German utility Steag, which has put itself up for sale, is changing the name of a large part of its business to Iqony in the course of a planned split-up, according to a website for the new company.

Around 2,300 employees will work for Iqony, whose portfolio includes solar, wind, geothermal and hydrogen projects, said the website

The coal-fired power plants, including large sites in Duisburg and Saarland, will not be included in the new company, according to the WAZ newspaper, which initially reported the name change.

Before the start of the official sales process, which the company plans to wrap up by the end of 2023, Steag wants to split itself into a green part focused on renewables, as well as a conventional division where the company's coal-fired power plants are bundled.

The company aims to sign a deal with a strategic buyer or financial investor by summer 2023 and close the transaction by the end of the year, CEO Andreas Reichel had told reporters in November.

Steag, which employs 5,700 staff, is owned by KSBG, where six municipal utilities in Germany's industrial Ruhr region have bundled their stakes. They are Duisburg, Dortmund, Bochum, Essen, Oberhausen and Dinslaken.

(Writing by Miranda Murray, Editing by Louise Heavens)